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COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT. 



THE 

UNFOLDMENT 



BY 

WILLIAM WTWALTER 



Price $1.85 Postpaid 
Published and for Sale by 

WILLIAM W. WALTER 

326 New York St. 
AURORA, ILLINOIS 






Copyright 1921 

by 

WILLIAM W. WALTER 



Fl6 -4 i92i 

©CLA605673 



*%*t4 






PREFACE 

In placing this book upon the market, I am 
merely answering a persistent call from the field 
relative to the light on the various subjects han- 
dled. This call for light comes through letter 
and also in person and the conversation in the 
book is typical of hundreds that have taken place 
in my office between patients, practitioners, teach- 
ers, other truth seekers and myself. 

The enlightenment and help that have come 
to my visitors from these simple talks induced 
me to place them in book form so that all who 
desired enlightenment on these questions could 
be benefited. 

It will be apparent at once to the reader that 
Walter Williams is merely a transposition of my 
own name. 



CONTENTS 

CHAPTER PAGE 

I. The Appointment 7 

II. Why and How 38 

III. Emergence into the Light ... 74 

IV. The Sickle 121 

V. Class Teaching 157 

VI. M.D. M.A.M. R.C 182 



THE UNFOLDMENT 

CHAPTER I 

THE APPOINTMENT 

Mr. Walter Williams, author, and teacher of 
Christian Science, was sitting at the desk in his 
private office, busily engaged in answering a mass 
of correspondence that lay before him, when he 
heard the door bell ring. He paused in his work 
a moment, and upon hearing someone go to an- 
swer the bell, he resumed his writing. 

A moment later, he heard somebody enter the 
reception room, and say: "I am Mrs. Viloxon 
of Chicago. I had an appointment with Mr. 
Williams for two o'clock." 

"Yes, he is expecting you, and if you will ex- 
cuse me I will notify him of your arrival. Please 
be seated," was the answer. 

A few minutes later, Mr. Williams opened the 
door connecting his private office with the recep- 
tion room, and stepping through the doorway, 

7 



8 THE UNFOLDMENT 

he saw a well dressed woman seated in an easy 
rocker. As she turned toward him he observed 
that her face was drawn, as though with worry 
or pain. 

The lady arose and asked: "Is this Mr. 
Williams?" 

A pleasant smile came to his face as he an- 
swered: u Yes, I am Mr. Williams, and you are 
Mrs. Viloxon?" 

"Yes, I am Mrs. Clara Viloxon, Christian 
Science practitioner of Chicago." As she said 
this, there was just a trace of pride in her actions 
and words. 

Extending his hand in welcome, Mr. Williams 
said: "I am pleased to meet you. Please step 
into my private office so that we may talk, undis- 
turbed. I suppose you came to keep your ap- 
pointment." 

"Yes," she replied. 

Placing a rocker, Mr. Williams added: "Take 
this seat, you will find it very comfortable." 

The visitor took the chair indicated, and as 



THE APPOINTMENT 9 

she seated herself, quietly said: "I thank you." 

For several moments neither spoke, and it was 
evident to Mrs. Viloxon that Mr. Williams was 
closely studying her face, though not wishing to 
appear to do so. 

Scarcely knowing what to say, but with an evi- 
dent desire to break the silence, Mrs. Viloxon 
remarked: "Well, I am here." 

"So I see," said Mr. Williams. 

Leaning forward and looking up sharply, Mrs. 
Viloxon remarked: "It took a mighty effort on 
my part to come to your office in broad daylight, 
for if some of my Science friends should see me, 
it would cause me a great deal of trouble. That 
is why I wrote you for an evening interview. I 
consider my coming a wonderful demonstration." 

"So you think your coming to my office a won- 
derful demonstration?" 

"Yes, I do, don't you?" 

There was a serious expression on the face of 
Mr. Williams, as he slowly shook his head and 
quietly said : "No" ; then added : "However, let 



10 THE UNFOLDMENT 

the matter rest there for the present. I am ready 
to hear the nature of your mission." 

There was a little show of both excitement and 
resentment as Mrs. Viloxon said, quite positively: 
"But I do consider my coming a big demonstra- 
tion, and would like to know your reason for not 
considering it such." 

Mr. Williams faced his visitor squarely, and 
said very calmly: "If we allow ourselves to get 
excited and enter into controversy, our time will 
be wasted, and no good will accrue to either of 
us. Have you never heard it said, that we can- 
not gain new ideas from those who fully agree 
with us, because if we are in agreement no new 
ideas are brought forth? Therefore, it is from 
those who do not always agree with us, that we 
must learn. It is also a fact that an excited or 
angry man cannot reason clearly; therefore, if 
we wish to gain knowledge, we must remain calm." 

Mrs. Viloxon slowly sank back into her chair 
as she attempted to take a mental invoice of the 
calm, peaceful face before her. At length she 



THE APPOINTMENT 11 

said: "You are right, Mr. Williams; still I have 
always considered work of that kind as a demon- 
stration, and so does every Scientist whom I know; 
and I should be pleased to have you explain your 
position. " 

"Very well, I will explain. Your face tells 
me that you did not come here solely for enlight- 
enment, but rather because you are in some kind 
of trouble and need help. Am I correct?" 

"Yes, I came both for enlightenment and for 
help. I want to know more of Science, and I 
have a physical claim that has not yielded to my 
very best efforts." 

"Now please answer me plainly. If you had 
found upon arising this morning, that you had 
suddenly become well, would you have come to 
keep this appointment?" 

Mrs. Viloxon took a moment for thought, and 
said: "I am inclined to think that if I had found 
myself suddenly well, I would not have taken the 
time to come." 

"You have spoken truthfully. This proves 



12 THE UNFOLDMENT 

that your coming here is not a demonstration." 
"But Mr. Williams, I really did come, and can- 
not see that it is not a demonstration." 

"You wrote me for an evening appointment, 
and this showed me that you were afraid to come. 
When I wrote you that apparently you were afraid 
to come to my office in daylight, it hurt your 
pride, and you decided not to come at all; but 
your claim or trouble — whatever it may be — 
would not yield, and gradually you feared the 
consequences of this ill more than you feared to 
come, and again you wrote for an appointment; 
so you are here not as a demonstration of right 
thinking, but because your fear of becoming seri- 
ously sick was greater than your fear of coming 
in daylight and being seen by other church Scien- 
tists. Your face tells me that you are honest 
at heart, therefore be honest with yourself. Be 
natural, be honest; that is, let the natural hon- 
esty of your heart hold sway, and put away the 
make-believe and hypocrisy which you have worn 



THE APPOINTMENT 13 

as a mask. You cannot be well, happy and har- 
monious while hypocrisy holds sway." 

Slowly but surely what had been said entered 
the consciousness of Mrs. Viloxon, and at length 
she said: "You are right. It was not a demon- 
stration. I came because I feared my trouble 
more than I feared the coming, but I am no hypo- 
crite because I truly believed my coming was a 
demonstration." 

"Did you ever look up Webster's definition of 
the word 'hypocrite' ?" 

"No, I don't think I have looked up the mean- 
ing in recent years, because I know what the word 
means." 

"Let me cite you Webster's definition. It is: 
4 One who feigns to be what he is not; one — ' " 

"Yes, I know the meaning," broke in Mrs. 
Viloxon; then added: "But I am not a hypo- 
crite." 

"Please let me finish the definition, — 'One who 
has the form of godliness without the power, or 
who assumes the appearance of piety and virtue, 



14 THE UNFOLDMENT 

when he is destitute of true religion.' Do any 
of these fit your case?" 

"No, for I am no hypocrite." 

"Very well. Will you now tell me why you 
asked for an appointment?" asked Mr. Williams. 

"Yes, and that you may understand my prob- 
lem correctly I feel that I should like to tell you 
some things, may I?" 

"Yes, tell the whole story plainly, if you wish." 

"Thank you. I was married at an early age, 
and shortly after our marriage, my husband took 
a very dangerous position, and I was in constant 
dread that some day he would be brought home 
to me, dead. This condition continued until I 
became a nervous wreck, and one day the ex- 
pected happened. The shock was so great that 
all despaired of my ever getting well again; but 
after some months, a friend mentioned Christian 
Science, and I determined to try it; and through 
months of treatment, I was fully restored. Next, 
I took class instruction and devoted myself to the 
healing field. For three or four years I was very 



THE APPOINTMENT 15 

successful, but gradually, as time went on, I awoke 
to the fact that my cases were not responding as 
in the early years; and now, after being in the 
practice for twenty-seven years, I am not at all 
satisfied with my ability to heal. To make mat- 
ters worse, my old nervousness and worry have 
come back, and are leaving their marks upon my 
face and body so plainly that I cannot longer 
hide them from my patients; for a few weeks ago, 
one of them remarked about my appearance. If 
this continues I shall lose all my practice. " 

As Mrs. Viloxon paused in her recital, Mr. 
Williams thought, u the same old story I" Ad- 
dressing her, he asked: "What led you to come 
to me?" 

"I will tell you," and then looking away she 
said: "Of course, Mr. Williams, you are aware 
that we Chicago practitioners do not consider 
you a loyal Scientist. I have been to my teacher, 
and other practitioners for help, but received none, 
in this particular problem. A friend whom you 



16 THE UNFOLDMENT 

healed some years ago, told me she was positive 
that you could heal me, so I came." 

Mr. Williams asked: "Have you ever read 
any of my writings on Christian Science?" 

"You know, Mr. Williams, as loyal church 
Scientists we are forbidden to read your books; 
but when I could not seem to get the understand- 
ing necessary to heal myself, from Mrs. Eddy's 
works and the periodicals, I decided to secretly 
read some of your writings; not with the inten- 
tion of being disloyal to the church, understand, 
but to find healing for myself." 

Mr. Williams bowed his head as he slowly 
said: "Yes, I understand fully." 

"I appealed to this friend, and she gave me 
two of your 'Plain Talk Series' to read. While 
I do not fully agree with all that you have writ- 
ten there, yet I seemed to get the idea that you 
had a deep understanding of Christian Science, 
and might be able to help me." 

Assuming a serious look, Mr. Williams asked: 
"If I were to heal you, would you go back to your 



THE APPOINTMENT 17 

friends and patients, and tell them that you were 
healed through the Williams' method of apply- 
ing Christian Science?" 

A look of great fear overspread the face of 
Mrs. Viloxon as she leaned back in her chair and 
trembled visibly, as she said : "Oh, Mr. Williams ! 
I could not do that." 

"Not even if your health and happiness de- 
pended upon it?" he asked. 

"I am afraid not," came the answer in a very 
weak voice. 

Looking squarely at Mrs. Viloxon, Mr. Wil- 
liams said with deep sympathy, "I am really sorry 
for you, and for the thousands of other practi- 
tioners in Science. Why, you all fear your church 
organization, and your brother and sister prac- 
titioners more than you did the devil of your 
old religion. I would not have that fear yoke 
on my neck for all the money in the world." 

"But Mr. Williams, how would I get along? 
How would I make my living, if my patients all 
left me?" 



18 THE UNFOLDMENT 

"There now, that is the honesty in your heart 
coming to the top again. You are not loyal to 
the church because you feel it right, but because 
you will perhaps lose your livelihood if you are 
considered disloyal." 

"Oh, I don't know what to say to you! But 
of one thing I am certain, — I cannot go on day 
after day with this fear and worry and nervous- 
ness making me too wretched to live, — yet I see 
no way out of it." 

"Mrs. Viloxon, did it ever occur to you that 
perhaps a practitioner who was considered dis- 
loyal could make a good living in the practice?" 

"No, it never has." 

"Do I look poor and in want; sickly, worried 
and fearful?" 

"No, you look just the reverse." 

"Yet I am in the practice; and you yourself 
said that I was considered a disloyal Scientist, — 
whatever that may mean to those who use the 
term." 



THE APPOINTMENT 19 

"But loyal Christian Scientists will not come 
to me after I am called disloyal." 

"They will not? Let us see. You are a so- 
called loyal Christian Scientist, yet you came to 
me, a so-called disloyal Scientist.'' 

The smile she saw on Mr. Williams' face was 
so reassuring and kindly, that she could not help 
smiling herself, as she said: "But I am only 
one." 

"Yes you are only one, but one of a thousand," 
said Mr. Williams with a quiet laugh. 

"Do you mean that there are many practi- 
tioners and patients who are church members who 
come to you?" 

"Yes, very many. In fact, nearly all who 
come to me are or were so-called loyal church 
members." 

"From Chicago, too?" asked Mrs. Viloxon. 

"Yes, from all over the United States, and 
also some from foreign countries." 

"I am surprised." 

"I am not. You know the old saw, that you 



20 THE UNFOLDMENT 

cannot fool all the people all the time. When 
they have tried all that the church has to offer 
and are not relieved, they wisely look further. 
Also, someone has truly said that if you have 
something that the world wants, the people will 
wear a beaten path to your door, even though 
you are located in a wilderness." 

"And I thought I was the only one," said Mrs. 
Viloxon with a queer little smile. 

"Come, we are wasting time; you must decide. 
Do you want to remain a so-called loyal Chris- 
tian Science church Scientist, and live in dread 
and fear of the organization all your life? Or 
do you want to become free, a real Christ 
Scientist, and stand upon your own understand- 
ing of the Facts of Life?" 

"Oh, I want to be well and happy again, but 
why can't you heal me and let me remain with 
the church, as formerly?" 

"I never asked any one to leave any church, 
and shall not ask you to do so. In fact, I would 
prefer that you do not leave the church at once, 



THE APPOINTMENT 21 

but stay with it until the church idea leaves you, 
which it ought to do, but never will, as long as 
you are content to retain the position of servant 
instead of striving daily to rise to the position of 
master. To gain your healing and rise to higher 
consciousness you must be honest with yourself, 
else you cannot succeed." 

"I do not understand you, Mr. Williams." 

"I will explain. Mrs. Eddy says that the key- 
note of Christian Science is 'Be not afraid,' and 
the Bible teaches that Tear hath torment.' You 
have come to me with a so-called nervous trouble 
which seemingly is destroying your health and 
harmony. I have diagnosed this trouble meta- 
physically, and find that the mental error respon- 
sible, and which needs to be destroyed, is dread, 
fear and hypocrisy." 

"Dread and fear perhaps, hypocrisy, never! 
How can you say that?" and there was a flash of 
indignation in her tone. 

Mr. Williams, in his calm, smooth voice, said: 
"Is it not hypocritical to pretend that you are a 



22 THE UNFOLDMENT 

great healer, when you know that your ability to 
heal has vanished? Is it not hypocritical to stand 
before your patients as a well woman, when you 
know that you are on the verge of nervous col- 
lapse? Is it not hypocritical to pretend to be a 
loyal church member, and then seek for healing 
outside of the church? Is it not hypocritical to 
forbid your patients to read any other litera- 
ture than Mrs. Eddy's works and the church peri- 
odicals, and you yourself spend hours in the read- 
ing and study of so-called unauthorized litera- 
ture? Is it not hypocritical — " 

"Please don't, Mr. Williams," exclaimed Mrs. 
Viloxon, as she put her hand to her face in shame. 

"Very well. But let us understand each other, 
and above all, let us be honest and natural. You 
are honest at heart and I honestly want to help 
you. It cannot be done while one or the other 
is pretending. You investigated long and care- 
fully before you came to me. You found that I 
was more successful than the others. You became 
convinced that I had an understanding of the 



THE APPOINTMENT 23 

Truth of Life beyond those of the church whom 
you had employed, including your teacher. Yet 
you did not wish to give me credit, or let me know 
that you had been investigating. Am I not right ?" 

"Yes, but please remember, I did it merely to 
regain my health." 

"Yes, I know. If things had continued smoothly 
with you, you would never have stopped your, 
shall I say, hypocritical life. This points to the 
truth of the statement that 'man's extremity is 
God's opportunity.' The law of Life is such 
that all will sooner or later find it necessary to be 
absolutely honest with self and their fellow man, 
if they wish to be well and happy." 

"I must regain my health; I cannot live this 
way longer. If I resign from the church, and 
study your works alone, will you give me treat- 
ment and heal me?" 

"No ! I will not give you treatment in the 
sense that you have of giving treatment. I have 
not taken on any cases for mere treatment, for 
the past three years. Neither would it be neces- 



24 THE UNFOLDMENT 

sary for you to leave your church or confine your- 
self to the study of my writings." 

"I do not understand, Mr. Williams." 

"No, none of the older church Scientists un- 
derstand me. If they did, they would never 
again say a word against the work that I am 
striving to accomplish. I am not trying to tear 
down the Christian Science church, neither am I 
trying to start a movement of my own; but I am 
striving to unveil the veiled Truth and make it 
so plain that everybody, both in and out of the 
Christian Science church, can understand and ap- 
ply it to the overcoming of their troubles, be they 
sin, sickness or poverty." 

"Then I would not need to leave the church to 
be healed under your method of applying Chris- 
tian Science?" 

"No, and neither would the member of any 
other church need to leave their church to be 
healed. I was healed while still affiliated with 
another church. I have healed Catholic and 
Protestant, Chinaman and American, and never 



THE APPOINTMENT 25 

in all the years of my healing work have I asked 
any one to leave their church." 

"But did they all continue in their old 
churches ?" 

"No, very few continued in their old religious 
beliefs for any length of time, after being healed; 
especially those who came to me for present treat- 
ment, for then I was able to make the facts of 
Life so plain, that they saw the ridiculousness of 
their former church beliefs, and deserted them." 

"Then you are not opposed to the people be- 
longing to churches?" 

"No, I am not opposed to those going to 
church who feel they need the church; but I am 
opposed to the idea advanced by some churches, 
that you can get into heaven only through some 
certain church." 

"Mr. Williams, I fear I have been narrow in 
regard to my church thought, but I am not en- 
tirely to blame, for I was in a great measure fol- 
lowing the lead of my teacher. Now I want to 
be honest with myself, and get well, and I would 



26 THE UNFOLDMENT 

thank you if you would point the way for me. I 
don't wish to be a hypocrite, and not until you 
laid the proof plainly before me, could I even sur- 
mise that I was hypocritical; and even yet, I do 
not see how my action regarding the church has 
any thing to do with my illness." 

"I will show you. You stated that after your 
marriage and after your husband had taken up 
a hazardous occupation, you were much dis- 
turbed, and were in constant dread and fear that 
something terrible would happen to him. Per- 
haps you do not know that when Job said : 'The 
thing I feared most has come upon me,' he was 
stating a mental law." 

u Why no, I never thought of this statement as 
a law," said Mrs. Viloxon, with some surprise. 

"It is a mental Law. You will remember that 
Mrs. Eddy quotes Shakespeare's statement, 
'There is nothing either good or bad but thinking 
makes it so.' On page 415 of 'Science and 
Health,' we read: 'Note how thought makes 
the face pallid. It either retards the circulation 



THE APPOINTMENT 27 

or quickens it, causing a pale or flushed cheek. 
In the same way thought increases or diminishes 
the secretions, the action of the lungs, of the 
bowels, and of the heart.' This shows that Mrs. 
Eddy taught that thought is causative. Right 
thought produces right results, such as health 
and success, while sick thought produces sickness. 
This being the case, it can readily be seen why 
the thing you fear most must come upon you, 
because whatever you fear most you think most 
of, and thus you actually create such a condition." 

u Mr. Williams, you astonish me. If that be 
true, I was in a great measure to blame for the 
ill that befell my husband." 

"I am not saying anything about that. I only 
wish to point out to you the great part which 
fear thought plays in bringing evil upon us. 
Your dread, fear and worry kept your mentality 
constantly discordant. This inharmony of the 
mentality, in your case, was shown in the body 
as the trouble that we call nervousness. Later, 
after the accident happened, and you had some- 



28 THE UNFOLDMENT 

what recovered from the shock, the cause of the 
mental discord (the fear of accident to your hus- 
band) being removed, your mentality took on a 
quieter mood and you recovered or became nor- 
mal again." 

"Oh, but I was healed through the treatment 
given me by a Christian Science practitioner." 

"No doubt the harmonious thought of the 
practitioner helped you to arrive at normality; 
but had you attempted to become healed while 
constantly fearing for the safety of your husband, 
this very same practitioner could not have helped 
you permanently, unless in some way he could 
have allayed your fear concerning your husband, 
for this was the erring 'thought cause." 

"I never looked at it in that light before. But 
why has this condition returned, for the circum- 
stance which you say was the cause in the first 
place, is not in evidence now?" asked Mrs. 
Viloxon. 

"No, not the very same thought condition, but 
one just like it." 



THE APPOINTMENT 29 

"I don't understand/' replied Mrs. Viloxon. 

"Your former nervous illness was caused by 
a state of constant dread and fear — the fear that 
something would happen to your husband. In 
the present instance, you have a dread and fear 
that something is going to happen to you. You 
are in almost constant fear that some one con- 
nected with the church organization, or your 
teacher, or some one else, will bring forth the 
charge that you are disloyal and thus result in 
your dismissal; and that, because of this, you 
may lose your practice, and your livelihood." 

"I believe I see a little light," said Mrs. 
Viloxon, slowly. 

"Your fear of being called disloyal or of be- 
ing excommunicated from the church amounts 
almost to a mental panic, as it does with most of 
the church members, and especially the listed 
practitioners. Mrs. Eddy said that the keynote 
of Christian Science is 'Be not afraid'; but the 
cold justice or, as some state, injustice, that has 
been meted out by the church authorities, con- 



30 THE UNFOLDMENT 

stitutes the greatest creator of fear that any or- 
ganization ever conjured forth with which to 
govern its membership. I know from experi- 
ence, and I would not again be under that church 
yoke of fear for all the world. Your present 
illness is nothing but the external expression of 
your fear of the organization, and that is why 
your various practitioners could not heal you, for 
they kept manufacturing beliefs which gave you 
more fear of the organization. Surely, 'Fear 
hath torment'." 

For a full minute there was silence in the office, 
as Mrs. Viloxon mentally digested what had 
been said. Then she looked up and said, quite 
positively: "I believe you are right." 

"Oh, I know I am right," said Mr. Williams. 
"You are not the first one whom I have healed 
of serious illness, merely by destroying for them 
the fear of the organization. 

"The nature of fear is such that it makes no 
difference what the procuring cause is, be it fear 
of church or even fear of God; the fear disturbs 



THE APPOINTMENT 31 

the normal harmonious status of the mentality, 
and disturbed mental harmony, sooner or later, 
has its effect or manifestation on the body as 
sickness; and the ill, will continue as a so-called 
physical ailment until the fear has been de- 
stroyed.' ' 

u Yes, I know that Mrs. Eddy says that 'Be not 
afraid' is the keynote of Christian Science; but 
it never occurred to my thought that fear of be- 
ing disciplined or excommunicated could be classed 
as that kind of fear, but I am inclined to believe 
that you are right because every time I heard of 
some one being disciplined or excommunicated, 
it made me more fearful and nervous." 

"There is no question about it. On page 421, 
latest edition of 'Science and Health,' line 5, you 
find these words of Mrs. Eddy: 'Derangement, 
or disarrangement, is a word which conveys the 
true definition of all human belief in ill-health, 
or disturbed harmony.' Now it matters not, 
whether the disturbed harmony is caused by your 
fear of being excommunicated, or of losing your 



32 THE UNFOLDMENT 

husband, the fear causes the disturbed harmony 
just the same and the result is, ill-health. Now 
answer me honestly, ever since you had your name 
listed as a practitioner, there is scarcely anything 
that you fear more than being excommunicated 
or being called disloyal, is there ?" 

Mrs. Viloxon took time for careful thought, 
then answered: "For years I have had a latent 
fear of those in authority and since the excom- 
munication of so many prominent Christian Scien- 
tists, I have had a constant and growing fear of 
being disciplined either by the Mother church or 
the local church of which I am a member, and 
an actual dread that I might unconsciously dis- 
obey some of the by-laws in the Manual, and that 
some one not friendly to me might charge me with 
disloyalty and thus ruin my practice." 

"Oh, that Manual!" said Mr. Williams, with 
a look of deep disgust, then continued: "You 
know, that Manual reminds me of a mental cat- 
o-nine tails, to whip the more fearless thinkers 
into servitude; the same as the slave drivers of 



THE APPOINTMENT 33 

olden times used to beat their slaves into deeper 
subjection through repeated use of the cat-o-nine 
tails.'' 

"A mental cat-o-nine tails ! I don't think I 
ever heard that expression before." 

"Perhaps not, but that Manual was an instru- 
ment of torture (mental torture) to me the first 
few years that I was a member of the organiza- 
tion. I was in constant mental dread and fear 
that I would be disciplined and called disloyal, 
and that because of this, the little money I had, 
which was all invested in my books, would be 
lost; and also that I would lose my practice upon 
which I was depending for a livelihood. It cer- 
tainly was an instrument of mental torture to me." 

"I don't know that I ever analyzed my thought 
as carefully as that, but I do have the fear that 
I might unintentionally transgress some of the 
by-laws, and be called disloyal." 

"Well, I am satisfied that that very fear, or 
disturbed harmony, is the cause of much of the 
illness that many practitioners have; and it is an 



34 THE UNFOLDMENT 

experience which I do not care to go through 
again, " said Mr. Williams. 

"But you would not do away with the Manual 
entirely, would you? How could you govern a 
church without some set rules?" 

"No, I would leave the church goer his Man- 
ual, but as far as I am concerned I want neither 
church nor Manual. Jesus never started a church, 
at least Mrs. Eddy wrote in her first edition of 
'Science and Health,' page 118, line 25: 'Jesus 
paid no homage to diplomas, to forms of church 
worship or the theories of man, but acted and 
spake as he was moved by Spirit, the principle 
of being'; and on page 166 of this same edition 
Mrs. Eddy wrote : 'We have no needs of creeds 
and church organization to sustain or explain a 
demonstrable platform, that defines itself in heal- 
ing the sick, and casting out error.' On the same 
page we find this by Mrs. Eddy: 'The mistake 
the disciples of Jesus made to found religious 
organizations and church rites, if indeed they did 
this, was one the Master did not make.' " 



THE APPOINTMENT 35 

"But Mr. Williams, we have no creeds or rites 
in the Christian Science church." 

u That is what you believe, and many others 
have said, but is it a fact? Let us see! Webster 
defines the word 'Creed' to mean, 'A brief sum- 
mary of the articles of faith.' On page 330 of 
the latest edition of 'Science and Health' you 
find the beginning of thirty-two articles, and Mrs. 
Eddy intimates that they are the platform of 
Christian Science. Now I cannot see that chang- 
ing the name from 'creed' to 'platform' makes 
any difference in the matter at all. The creeds of 
other denominations are really their platforms, 
and the platform of Christian Science is really its 
creed." 

"Mr. Williams, you certainly present the mat- 
ter so that none can mistake your meaning." 

"Yes. I am tired of all this word quibble, this 
subterfuge, this masquerading. Let us be hon- 
est and natural." 

"At any rate we have no church rites, have we, 
Mr. Williams?" 



36 THE UNFOLDMENT 

The smile which arose to the face of the man 
could not be entirely hidden, as he said: "Let 
us examine into the matter. Webster defines the 
word 'Rite' to mean, 'The manner of performing 
divine or solemn service, as established by law, 
precept, or custom.' Are not the Sunday and 
Wednesday services in the Christian Science 
church established by law — by the by-laws — by 
precept, and by custom? Don't all the churches 
have exactly the same services, conducted in the 
very same way? This agrees with Webster's def- 
inition of the word 'rites,' even if denied by 
thousands." 

"You are certainly giving me shock upon shock. 
But not until you explained, did I view the matter 
in this light," replied Mrs. Viloxon, as she moved 
uneasily in her seat. 

"The laws governing the services of the one 
church are the rites of the other. Now why hide 
these matters under new names as though they 
were something different from the other 
churches?" 



THE APPOINTMENT 37 

u Why, it is plain to me now, — there is only 
a change of name, and not of system or custom." 

"I can see but little difference. The custom in 
some churches is to preach the Gospel and in the 
Science church they read it. Now let us speak 
of the Manual that so many Scientists revere. 
The Christian Science Manual is a book which 
contains the by-laws etc., to be observed by the 
members. I have heard Scientists denounce what 
they were pleased to call the 'ritualism' of some 
other churches. Let us see if the Science church 
is entirely free from ritualism. Webster defines 
the word 'Ritual' to mean: 'A book containing 
the rites to be observed; or the manner of per- 
forming divine service in a particular church or 
communion.' If the Christian Science Manual 
contains any thing which corresponds to Web- 
ster's definition, then I fear the Manual is nothing 
but a ritual with a change of name, merely." 

"I must have time to think this over. You are 
presenting these matters faster than I can assim- 
ilate them," said Mrs. Viloxon. 



CHAPTER II 

WHY AND HOW 

"Let us now drop church matters, and get to 
the point for which you came," said Mr. Williams. 

"Your talk on church matters interests me 
greatly, and has opened my eyes to many things 
and I thank you ; but as your time is precious, I 
will not take any more of it to explain things which 
I ought to have discovered for myself. My main 
mission is to regain my health." 

With a quizzical smile, Mr. Williams asked: 
"What became of it? Did you lose it or did some 
one steal it?" 

"Oh! I don't know how to answer. I don't 
even know whether you are in earnest or joking, 
but I do know that I am miserable most of the 
time." 

A soft, sympathetic glow came into the eyes of 
Mr. Williams, as he said: "Well, I know all 
abtmt it, and also know how you lost it, and how 

38 



WHY AND HOW 39 

you can regain it, so let us not worry about that." 

"Then you have decided to give me treatment ?" 
Mrs. Viloxon asked quickly. 

"Your greatest need is not treatment, but teach- 
ing. If I should consent to give you treatment 
it would very likely need to be absent treatment; 
and if you were relieved of your present trouble, 
this would not result in permanent health." 

"Why do you say that? I thought that Chris- 
tian Science healing was the one permanent cure," 
said the visitor. 

"Have you found in actual practice that all the 
cases which you treated and which were appar- 
ently healed, stayed permanently well with no 
return of the same thing or some other?" 

"Why no, of course not. I have treated and 
apparently healed some claims a number of times, 
but at a later date, the patient would again be 
afflicted with the same trouble, or some other. I 
have also found similar conditions in the heal- 
ings I have accomplished for myself from time 
to time." 



40 THE UNFOLDMENT 

"Mrs. Viloxon, if your statement is correct 
that Christian Science healing is the one perma- 
nent cure, then, if any of the ills that you have 
apparently healed reappeared, the healings you 
accomplished were not really Christian Science 
healings, according to your own words, else they 
would have remained permanent/' 

u But they claimed the healings that I accom- 
plished were Christian Science healings." 

"Yes, and you in turn believed that the heal- 
ings that you accomplished were the result of 
actual Christian Science practice, but were they?" 

"I will admit that I do not know. Still, I know 
of many claims that were met by my work and 
which did not return." 

"Yes, that no doubt is true. You just said, 
'Were met by my work.' I thought that you Scien- 
tists say that 'God is the only healer,' also many 
practitioners say, 'I of mine own self can do noth- 
ing, God doeth the work.' Just how do you ex- 
plain this matter?" 

"But, Mr. Williams, don't you believe that 



WHY AND HOW 41 

God, Spirit, Divine Love is the only healer?" 

"I don't only believe it, I understand it, and 
also how God does the healing. I was merely 
asking you how you can harmonize these two 
statements, " he replied. 

"Have you never heard the statement that I do 
my work and God does the rest?" asked Mrs. 
Viloxon. 

"Oh yes, and I am now trying to find out just 
what you practitioners mean by that statement. 
Can you explain?" 

"Well, I suppose it means that the practitioner 
does the treating and God does the healing," re- 
plied the lady. 

"Then you are of the opinion that God would 
not or could not heal, if the practitioner did not 
treat." 

"No ! God is all-powerful, and can surely 
heal without the aid of the practitioner," said 
Mrs. Viloxon. 

"If the practitioner is not needed in the heal- 
ing and can do nothing of himself, as you claim, 



42 THE UNFOLDMENT 

and if God does the work, then why does the 
patient employ and pay the practitioner?" asked 
Mr. Williams. 

A surprised look overspread the face of Mrs. 
Viloxon, as she said: "I don't know that I ever 
took time to think about the matter. But I know 
that according to the Christian Science method of 
healing, the practitioner does the treating and 
God does the healing." 

"If God can heal without the aid of the prac- 
titioner, then why this partnership between God 
and the practitioner, to produce healing in Chris- 
tian Science?" asked Mr. Williams. 

"It is not absolutely necessary that the patient 
go to a practitioner to gain healing, he can him- 
self go direct to God." 

"Then why did you not go direct to God ior 
your healing, Mrs. Viloxon?" 

"Oh I did, I did! But for some reason un- 
known to me, there has been no answer to my 
self treatments." 

"Then you came to me, thinking that perhaps 



WHY AND HOW 43 

I was on better terms with God, and that there- 
fore he might answer my treatments offered in 
your behalf? Would this not be folly when we 
stop to think that the Bible and also Mrs. Eddy 
teach that our God is a changeless God, and no 
respecter of persons ?" 

"I don't know how to answer you. There is 
something here I never did understand/' said 
Mrs. Viloxon, much disturbed. 

"How long did you say you had been in the 
healing practice, Mrs. Viloxon?" 

u Twenty-seven years," she replied. 

"And during all that time you posed as an 
authorized healer and did not understand the 
simplest fundamental of healing? Do you think 
this was strictly honest?" 

"But I did many good healing works during 
that time," broke in Mrs. Viloxon, with some 
show of color. 

"You just got through saying that God is the 
only healer, and now yon say you did many goad 



44 THE UNFOLDMENT 

healing works. Won't you please explain this 
seeming contradiction?" 

For several minutes there was silence in the 
office, as Mrs. Viloxon was moved by several con- 
trary emotions. She partially arose out of her 
chair as though ready to depart, then sank back 
dejectedly. Next she looked sharply at Mr. 
Williams as though ready to retort angrily, but 
again sank back into her chair with a hopeless, 
pleading look on her face, and said: "Mr. Wil- 
liams, please have pity on me and show me the 
light." 

The satisfied smile which came to the face of 
Mr. Williams showed plainly that he had attained 
the point he wished to 'reach, and his words cor- 
roborated his looks, for he said: "There; now 
we are in the right mental attitude for advance- 
ment. As long as an individual is trying to up- 
hold a position that has no foundation just be- 
cause of pride, or because he thinks it policy, he 
is not in the right mental attitude to receive men- 
tal enlightenment. We must become as little 



WHY AND HOW 45 

children, teachable, and receptive to the actual 
Truth. I could not hope to help" you while you 
took the position that you knew these things, 
when in reality you did not." 

"But 1 do know something of Christian Science 
healing." 

"Perhaps, but not as you should know. All 
these years you have been working with blind 
faith and not understanding; and all the healing 
that you accomplished was the result of your own, 
or the patient's, blind faith in an unknown God, 
or in the method employed." 

"I cannot believe this to be true, in fact, I 
know it is not." 

"We will not discuss that point now. Later, 
you will agree with me. Now I shall try to put 
you on the right track." 

Mr. Williams reached over to his desk and 
picking up a book, he said: "This is 'Miscella- 
neous Writings' by Mrs. Eddy." And he held 
it up so that his visitor could see the book. 

"Yes, I recognize it," said Mrs. Viloxon. 



46 THE UNFOLDMENT 

"Before we begin, I should like to ask if you 
are one of those who think that Mental Science 
and Christian Science are the same?" asked Mr. 
Williams. 

"No, indeed. Christian Science is spiritual 
science, in other words, the Science of Spirit, God. 
Whereas, I understand that Mental Science is of 
human origin, or of the human mind." 

"Yes, I have heard several practitioners, and 
a few teachers say words of the same import," 
said Mr. Williams. 

There was quite a satisfied look on Mrs. 
Viloxon's face as she thought, "at least I was 
right in this particular." Mr. Williams saw the 
look, and slowly opening the book he had in his 
hand, he said: "Here, on page 219 of 'Miscel- 
laneous Writings' is an article by Mrs. Eddy 
entitled 'Mental Practice,' and the article deals 
with healing the sick. Now I wonder why Mrs. 
Eddy did not say spiritual practice instead of 
'Mental Practice' if Mental Science is of the hu- 
man mind?" Not receiving any answer, Mr. 



WHY AND HOW 47 

Williams continued: "In the article Mrs. Eddy 
says: 'It is admitted that mortals think wick- 
edly, and act wickedly: it is beginning to be seen 
by thinkers, that mortals think also after a sickly 
fashion. In common parlance, one person feels 
sick, another feels wicked.' Now what do you 
understand from that statement ?" 

"Why, it's very plain to me. Mrs. Eddy 
wished to point out that wicked thinking makes 
us act wicked, and sick thinking or thinking sick- 
ness makes us sick. I have known this these many 
years. Is not that your understanding, also?" 
asked Mrs. Viloxon. 

"Yes. Then according to your understanding 
you are sick because you have been thinking sick 
thoughts." 

"Yes. Something of that sort, though my 
trouble seems to be somewhat different." 

"That is what they all say," said Mr. Wil- 
liams, with a broad grin. "However, that is not 
the point. The point is, that if your own wicked 
thinking makes you wicked and your own sick 



48 THE UNFOLDMENT 

thinking makes you sick, then why will not your 
own right thinking or healthy thinking make you 
healthy, without the aid of any outside, far-away 
God?" 

"Simply because Mrs. Eddy says that the hu- 
man mind is not a factor in healing, and also 
that God is the only healer," said Mrs. Viloxon, 
most decidedly. 

"And you call this a full and sufficient reason?" 

"Yes. At least it satisfies me." 

"I am inclined to think that you are easily sat- 
isfied in these matters. Carrying your statement 
farther, why do you try to heal yourself if God 
is the only healer and your so-called human mind 
is not a factor in the healing?" 

"I do not try to heal myself with my mind. 
You know that Mrs. Eddy teaches that 'desire is 
prayer,' and I, in silent thought, earnestly desire 
that God heal me." 

"Is this desiring done without the aid of the 
so-called human mind? If not, then this so-called 
human mind must be a factor." 



WHY AND HOW 49 

There was a surprised look on the face of 
the lady as she said: "I had not thought of that, 
but I know that Mrs. Eddy teaches that desire is 
prayer." 

"In other words, your treatments consist of 
desire or prayer and this is your part of the 
work, and then God does the healing and that 
is His part of the work." 

There w T as a real smile on Mrs. Viloxon's face 
as she quickly said: "Yes, that is just what I 
mean. You said it beautifully, and as some others 
have expressed it, I do my w^ork and God does 
the rest." 

"Mrs. Viloxon, have you never read where 
Mrs. Eddy wrote : 'Who would stand before a 
blackboard, and pray the principle of mathe- 
matics to solve the problem? The rule is already 
established, and it is our task to work out the 
solution. Shall we ask the divine principle of all 
goodness to do His own work? His work is 
done.' Then how can you say, you do your work 



50 THE UNFOLDMENT 

and God does His, or that you do your work and 
God does the rest?" 

"Oh, there is some misunderstanding here. 
Where does Mrs. Eddy say that 'God's work is 
done'?" 

Picking up a book, Mr. Williams turned a few 
leaves and said, "Here it is, on page 3, 'Science 
and Health,' lines 4 to 9," and handing the book 
to Mrs. Viloxon he added: "Read it for your- 
self." 

Taking the book, the visitor read the para- 
graph a number of times, then looking up she 
said: "Yes, Mrs. Eddy does say 'His work is 
done.' I remember now of reading the state- 
ment many times. Strange that I never saw it 
in this new light before. Then what do all these 
Scientists, and my teacher mean when they say, 
'I do my work, and God does the rest'?" 

"I suppose they mean the same as you, when 
you say it." 

"But what do I mean when I say it?" 

"Simply nothing," was the quiet reply. 



WHY AND HOW 51 

Mrs. Viloxon sat back in her chair with a jerk 
and remained silent for several moments, then 
said, very quietly: "Why do you perplex and 
torture me in this way?" 

"Because you are feigning to be something 
which you are not, namely, an understander of 
the Christ Science, and because you will not re- 
cede from your false position. " 

"But I am a class student, in fact, I went 
through two classes years ago with different 
teachers, and once again in later years. " 

"Mrs. Viloxon, that does not mean anything. 
If your teachers did not know the Science of Be- 
ing, they could not teach it to you. It is not the 
going through a half dozen classes with teachers 
who know not actual Truth, that makes you ca- 
pable to apply the Christ Science ; but rather, your 
understanding of Life, God, and the correct ap- 
plication of this living Principle to the problems 
of humanity." 

"But I thought I did understand the Science 
of Life," said Mrs. Viloxon. 



52 THE UNFOLDMENT 

"And now you are finding out that you had no 
actual understanding of Life, God, at all." 

"Do you feel that it is as bad as that?" 

"Perhaps not, but it's bad enough. At least, 
I should hardly care to trust my earthly exist- 
ence into your hands, if I were very sick." 

"But Mr. Williams, the practitioner's position 
is not that important, for you do not consign your 
case into the practitioner's hands, but into God's 
hands." 

"If Mrs. Eddy is correct in stating that God's 
work is done, then what use to consign a case 
into His hands?" 

Mrs. Viloxon raised her hand to her head as 
she meekly said: "Oh, I don't know. What is 
the matter with all these statements for they do 
not seem to mean the same to-day as formerly, 
and the farther I go, the more confused I become. 
Surely, you do not want me to understand that 
God is not the only healer?" 

"I surely do want you to understand that the 



WHY AND HOW 53 

God that you now have, is no healer at all," said 
Mr. Williams. 

u But I have the Christian Science God, the true 
God. I forsook my old personal God years ago, 
and changed to the real and true God, divine 
Love." 

"Yes, I will admit that you changed the name 
of your God from personal God to divine Love, 
but you still have divine Love acting as though It 
were a personal God, and that is just as great 
an error as acknowledging a personal God." 

"But I am not ready to admit this." 

"That is the trouble. You suppose that you 
do know the true God, but in reality you do not. 
Now what are you going to do with this state- 
ment of Mrs. Eddy's, if your God is the only 
healer. Here on page 41, line 4, 'Retrospection 
and Introspection' we find this statement: 'Many 
were the desperate cases I instantly healed.' This 
is not the only place where Mrs. Eddy wrote 
that she healed many cases. Was she mistaken 
about the matter? Had she the right to say that 



54 THE UNFOLDMENT 

she healed these cases, if you are right in your 
thought that God is the only healer, and that I 
of mine own self can do nothing?" asked Mr. 
Williams. 

"When will this confusion end? Many times 
in the past, I have been so confused that I have 
wished that I had never heard of Christian 
Science. Then when I was clearer in thought, I 
felt that there was nothing else worth while. Mr. 
Williams, am I alone in this confusion, am I the 
only one?" 

"No, you are only one of thousands who have 
come to me, and of a million who have not yet 
come. Practically all Science students have mis- 
understood Mrs. Eddy's writings." 

"This does not seem possible," said Mrs. 
Viloxon. "A few might err, but not the entire 
field." 

"I had that same idea long ago, and it cost 
me endless toil and work to convince myself that 
the many did not really understand Mrs. Eddy. 
But after hundreds of practitioners came to me 



WHY AND HOW 55 

for advice, and after I had interviewed many 
teachers and others in Christian Science, the con- 
clusion was slowly forced home to my thought 
that the field had missed the way. Seeking the 
cause of this, I came to the conclusion that it was 
the method used to veil the plain Truth." 

"Do you wish to intimate that 'Science and 
Health' is a veiled book?" 

"You may call it what you wish. The fact 
stands out that I have several thousand letters 
from all over the field, stating that they can get 
no definite understanding from 'Science and 
Health,' after years of study. Some of the let- 
ters are from the most intellectual people of our 
land. I would advise that you investigate this 
and thus satisfy yourself on the point. You know 
that the metaphysics of the Bible is veiled, and 
it would not have been such a wonderful thing 
if Mrs. Eddy had followed the same method." 

"But if our text-book is veiled, where are we 
to get the simple truth of Life? Are you sure 
it is veiled, Mr. Williams?" 



56 THE UNFOLDMENT 

"I will point you to a few citations and leave 
that for you to decide. The very first chapter in 
'Unity of Good' is entitled, 'Caution in the Truth/ 
If caution was used in stating Truth, then per- 
haps Mrs. Eddy did not deem it wise to state 
Truth too plainly. In the article in the seventy- 
seventh edition of 'Unity of Good,' page 7, we 
find this statement: 'The Science of physical 
harmony, as now presented to the people in divine 
Light, is radical enough to promote as forcible 
collisions of thought as the age has strength to 
bear.' Does not that statement mean that plainer 
statements regarding God and man would bring 
forth too forcible collisions of thought in this 
infantile age? On page 8 of the same book and 
article, we find: 'No wise mother, though a 
graduate of Wellesley College, will talk to her 
babe about the problems of Euclid.' You can 
see the intimation in these words of Mrs. Eddy's. 
Further down the page, we find the following: 
'Wait patiently on the Lord; and in less than an- 
other fifty years, His name will be magnified in 



WHY AND HOW 57 

the apprehension of this new subject.' If all of 
this does not point to the fact that she thought 
best to give us Truth in diluted form or par- 
tially veiled (the milk of the Word), then I am 
mistaken. Also, these statements mean that the 
unfoldment of Truth was not to stop with the 
present diluted writings, but would be made 
plainer as the age was ready to bear it. Nearly 
two-thirds of the fifty years she spoke of has 
passed. Mrs. Eddy is gone, therefore she can 
no longer carry the work forward. Some of her 
students must now do it. I am one who is striv- 
ing to do so." 

u Mr. Williams, I have never connected these 
statements with the diluting or veiling of the 
Word and the future unfoldment of the plain 
meat of the Word, but I believe you are right. 
Still, I question the wisdom of veiling Truth in 
this age. Think of the confusion that has arisen 
in the thought of thousands of students, and how 
are they ever going to get out of this confusion?" 
asked Mrs. Viloxon. 



58 THE UNFOLDMENT 

"I can only tell you that I was confused and 
mystified as long as I held to the present edition 
of 'Science and Health' as the only text-book of 
metaphysics, and the confusion and mystification 
left me after I secured a very early edition which 
stated the fundamentals of the Christ Science, 
plainly." 

"But I have been told not to read the early 
editions and that the present one was the most 
precious and valuable," said Mrs. Viloxon. 

u And I am telling you to secure the very first 
edition, if possible, and study it. It may interest 
you to know that Mrs. Eddy in 'Retrospection 
and Introspection,' page 55, said: 'The first edi- 
tion of my most important work, 'Science and 
Health,' containing the complete statement of 
Christian Science, — the term employed by me to 
express the Divine, or spiritual Science of Mind- 
healing, was published in 1875.' I know of no 
other than the first edition of 'Science and Health' 
of which Mrs. Eddy states that it contains the 
complete statement of Christian Science." 



WHY AND HOW 59 

"Mr. Williams, if that statement is correct and 
it must be, if it appears in Mrs. Eddy's writings, 
I cannot understand why my last teacher told me 
to not study the older editions." 

"Neither can I, but now that the matter has 
been pointed out to you, you can use your own 
judgment. But we digress. The question we 
were discussing was, If our sick thinking makes 
us sick, why will not our own healthy thinking 
heal us without the aid of any outside God or 
power?" 

Mrs. Viloxon shifted uneasily in her chair, and 
it was plain to be seen that she did not like the 
statement, but said nothing. So Mr. Williams 
continued: "To show you what I mean by veil- 
ing, and also to prove to you that it is your own 
right thought that heals you, and not a mysterious 
God or outside power, I will call your attention 
to this statement page 417, line 27, latest edition 
of 'Science and Health' ; and also how it appears 
in the early writings, from the first to 14th edi- 
tion. In the latest edition, we read: 'Explain 



60 THE UNFOLDMENT 

audibly to your patients, as soon as they can bear 
it, the complete control which Mind holds over 
the body. Show them how mortal mind seems to 
induce disease by certain fears and false conclu- 
sions, and how divine Mind can cure by opposite 
thoughts.' " 

u But, Mr. Williams, that is just how I under- 
stand Science to operate, that is, mortal mind 
makes us sick, and divine Mind heals; and not 
our own human thinking as you seem to imply." 

"Yes, I know that is the sense which you get 
from the statement, and it is the sense practically 
all students get from it. But where and what is 
this 'mortal mind' that makes you sick, and the 
'divine Mind' that makes you well?" asked Mr. 
Williams. 

"Mortal mind, I understand to be the One evil, 
and the divine Mind, I understand to be God." 

"Very good, but what do you mean by the one 
evil, and what do you mean by divine Mind? To 
say that one is Satan and the other is God is no 



WHY AND HOW 61 

explanation, but merely other names for the 
same things. n 

"Mr. Williams, I am sure you have read where 
Mrs. Eddy wrote that error, evil, cannot be ex- 
plained, because it is nothing; and also that God 
is infinite, therefore, to be able to explain God 
would be to make the infinite, finite. " 

Mr. Williams looked keenly at his visitor and 
said: "It seems strange to me for any one to 
say, 'error (evil) cannot be explained,' and then 
explain it by stating that it is nothing. On page 
103, line 18, present edition of 'Science and 
Health/ we read: 'As named in Christian 
Science, animal magnetism or hypnotism is the 
specific term for error, or mortal mind.' On 
page 114, line 2, of the same book, Mrs. Eddy 
wrote: 'therefore, to be understood, the author 
calls sick and sinful humanity mortal mind.' 
From this you can see that mortal mind, animal 
magnetism, sick and sinful humanity are the same, 
and that it is not an outside mind or outside power 
called mortal mind that makes you sick, but it is 



62 THE UNFOLDMENT 

your own mind and thought which causes all your 
trouble by wrong thinking, and which Mrs. Eddy 
has named mortal mind." 

"This is a little different than I have ever an- 
alyzed it. I can agree that it is our own sick 
thinking that makes us sick, but I still maintain 
that it is not our own thought that heals us," said 
Mrs. Viloxon with a tone of certainty in her voice. 

"In the article on 'Mental Practice' in 'Mis- 
cellaneous Writings,' Mrs. Eddy said: 'This is 
Christian Science: that mortal mind makes sick, 
and Immortal Mind makes well; that mortal mind 
makes sinners, while Immortal Mind makes 
saints. 1 Now if our sick or wrong thinking is 
the mortal mind that makes us sick, then why is 
not our own right thinking the Immortal Mind 
that heals us; for our right thinking is the oppo- 
site of our wrong thinking, and the Immortal 
Mind is the opposite of the so-called mortal 
mind." 

"I am entirely at sea," said Mrs. Viloxon. 
"You present the whole matter in an entirely new 



WHY AND HOW 63 

light, and in a way that is entirely foreign to my 
present thought on the subject." 

"I was on the point of explaining the matter 
to you when you broke in by saying that that was 
the way you understood Science to operate; you 
should have said 'imagined' it to operate, for 
you do not understand. I will again refer to 
the statement on page 417, of the present text- 
book: 'Show them how mortal mind seems to 
induce disease by certain fears and false conclu- 
sions, and how divine Mind can cure by opposite 
thoughts.' " 

Mrs. Viloxon was about to speak, when Mr. 
Williams raised his hand to stop her and said: 
"Please don't bring forth the nonsense offered 
as explanation by some, namely, that we 'think 
God's thoughts after Him,' or that we are 'Chan- 
nels' for the divine thought, or 'window panes,' 
or some other equally silly statement." 

"How did you know that I had something of 
that sort to say?" asked the lady. 

"Oh, that is the last refuge or subterfuge of- 



64 THE UNFOLDMENT 

fered by the blind believer, and as I have handled 
hundreds, I thought it was about time for you 
to make some such statement. Let us go back to 
the quotation under discussion. I have read it to 
you as it appears in the present edition of 'Science 
and Health' ; now I will read it to you as it was 
originally written by Mrs. Eddy, and before its 
meaning was obscured. It occurs on page 217 
of the 14th edition of 'Science and Health,' and 
reads as follows : 'Explain to your patient, audi- 
bly as he can bear it, the utter control that mind 
holds over the body: show him how it induces 
disease by certain thoughts, and how it can rem- 
edy it by opposite ones.' The word 'mind' is not 
capitalized. Does not this bring out what I have 
been telling you?" 

"That statement is plain, simple and reason- 
able. Why, oh why, was this fundamental state- 
ment, so vital to understanding, changed to its 
present form?" 

"Can you gain any such sense or understanding 



WHY AND HOW 65 

from the statement as it now appears in the latest 
text-book ?" 

"Absolutely not. The statement in the latest 
edition would cause you to think that there is both 
a mortal and a divine Mind, outside and foreign 
to your own mind, that causes either the good or 
the bad; while this last statement shows you posi- 
tively that it is all your own right or wrong think- 
ing that makes you sick or heals you." 

"I am glad that you see it so plainly. This is 
what I mean when I say that the present text-book 
is veiled." 

Mrs. Viloxon sat perfectly quiet for a few mo- 
ments and was thinking deeply, then looking up, 
she said: u Mr. Williams, I am afraid I am 
becoming provoked at those who are responsible 
for the veiling." 

She now took the 3rd, 7th, and 14th editions 
and read the statement in question in all of them, 
and then in the latest edition, and remarked: "I 
can scarcely believe my own eyes ! And to think 
that I once owned a 14th edition with its plain 



66 THE UNFOLDMENT 

statements, and later exchanged it for the present 
text-book which is surely veiled." 

"Having owned and formerly worked accord- 
ing to the 14th edition, explains why you were 
much more successful in your healing work years 
ago than now, does it not?" 

"Yes, yes, I see it all now. When I studied 
the old edition I gained the sense that I must 
myself refute the error, and explain to the patient 
the seeming cause of his ills; and later, as I laid 
aside this old edition and studied the new, I was 
gradually led to the mental position where I be- 
lieved I could do nothing and that an outside 
power did the work. True, I had changed the 
name of my God from a personal to an imper- 
sonal God named divine Love, but yet outside 
of me." 

"The words of Jesus that the 'Kingdom is 
within you,' should have told you different." 

"How blind I have been! I freely admitted 
that my evil thoughts had power, and just as 
freely held that my own good thoughts had no 



WHY AND HOW 67 

power. In other words, I gave evil (devil) all 
the power, and God (good) no power. Is it any 
wonder I did not succeed, and that I have been 
wretched for years ?" Mrs. Viloxon sat think- 
ing deeply for several moments. The man op- 
posite her remained quiet, though a close ob- 
server would have noticed a growing smile light- 
ing up his face, as he watched the mental wres- 
tlings of his visitor. 

Suddenly, Mrs. Viloxon looked up and as 
anger and resentment showed more and more 
in her countenance, the smile on Mr. Williams' 
face broadened. Then Mrs. Viloxon began to 
speak rapidly: "Why was this veiling done? 
Who is to blame? I think it an outrage and 
shame to hide the plain Truth in this manner. 
Here I have spent nearly half of this life in the 
study of a veiled book, and never knew it was 
veiled; and therefore gained an entirely errone- 
ous understanding of God and Life." 

Mr. Williams could not hold back the smile 
which grew into a quiet, "Ha! ha! ha!" as he 



68 THE UNFOLDMENT 

said: "Yes that is the next step. Get angry and 
show resentment toward some one else, when 
it is as much your own fault as any one's. You 
are endowed by Mind, God, with the power of 
reason; then why did you not use it instead of 
swallowing whole, the things that other blinded 
followers told you?" 

"But how was I to know that I was being mis- 
taught and misguided, in this manner ?" 

"The same as myself. I did not follow the 
tide. I did not accept these many nonsensical 
statements, just because some one who was sup- 
posed to be near the head of the movement stated 
them. Because a statement sounded beautiful, 
was no reason for its being a fact. I kept ask- 
ing myself, why and how. When I could not 
find a reasonable solution, I would not accept the 
statements but stored them in memory for future 
reasoning. When I first heard a Scientist say that 
she was a channel for divine Mind, I at once 
asked myself whether divine Mind worked in cer- 
tain special channels; and my reason told me that 



WHY AND HOW 69 

an everywhere present power would be every- 
where present inside the channel, and also every- 
where outside the channel; in other words, there 
were no convenient channels in which God did 
special work." 

"But all of us are not blessed with the same 
reasoning mind that you have Mr. Williams, 
and therefore I consider a great wrong was com- 
mitted when the Truth was veiled." 

"Yes, all have the same reasoning mind as 
myself. The only difference is, that I did not 
deem it too much work or trouble to use my rea- 
son; while most people are content to let others 
do the reasoning, and then accept such reasoning 
as their own, without first judging whether it is 
right or wrong. Remember, Paul said: 'Try the 
spirits.' This means, try the statements or 
thoughts, in other words, through a reasoning 
process prove the new thoughts that come to you 
to be right or wrong before you accept them." 

"Well, at any rate I have now come to the real- 
ization that I know next to nothing of actual 



70 THE UNFOLDMENT 

Christian Science, and I humbly ask, what shall 
I do?" 

"Mrs. Viloxon, do you remember the man who 
came to Jesus and said: 'Master, what shall I 
do to be saved?' " 

"Yes, I have read it many times." 
"The Master told him to do good deeds, to 
be charitable, honest etc. The young man an- 
swered in substance that he had always done these 
things from childhood. Then Jesus said: 'Go 
and sell all that thou hast and give to the poor, 
and come and follow me,' that is, follow in my 
footsteps and do as I am doing. And this is 
w T hat I say to you. The Master did not mean 
that the young man was to pauperize himself by 
selling all his earthly belongings and giving the 
proceeds to the poor. He did mean that he was 
to lay aside all his erring human opinions regard- 
ing life, and gain a demonstrable understanding 
of God, Life, and give of this understanding to 
those who were poor as far as Truth was con- 
cerned. Sell (dispose of) your allegiance to 



WHY AND HOW 71 

any thing that hinders your spiritual unfoldment, 
even though at present it be your most cherished 
possession, and follow Christ, Reason. True 
Reason is the Savior, so begin at once to reason 
truly and thus gain that mental harmony which 
we call heaven, through understanding Life, God, 
as It really is." 

"I will follow your advice. You were the first 
to open my blind eyes to true Reason (the real 
Christ), and now I ask, will you show me the 
way?" 

u Yes, gladly, for that is my mission on earth. 
I am devoting my every moment to unfolding 
Truth to those who wish to be shown the way to 
perfect mental harmony." 

"Very well. I am ready to begin anew at 
once," said Mrs. Viloxon, with determination. 

"It is getting late, and your mentality is some- 
what disturbed by the mental shocks I have had 
to administer to awaken you; and so I would ad- 
vise that you go to your hotel, and calmly reason 
about the thoughts I advanced to you to-day; 



72 THE UNFOLDMENT 

and then come to me again tomorrow at the same 
time, and I shall strive to clear away all the mis- 
teaching that has been given you in the past." 

"Before I go, I should like to ask one more 
question, which is this : Is there any other place 
in Mrs. Eddy's writings where she mentions or 
intimates that wrong thought is mortal mind, and 
right thought is divine Mind?" 

u Yes, there are many places that I could cite 
you, but there is one which is so conclusive that 
I think it alone will satisfy your thought." 

Picking up 'Miscellaneous Writings,' Mr. 
Williams turned to page 252, and said: "I will 
read you what Mrs. Eddy has written here, 
'Christian Science classifies thought thus: Right 
thoughts are reality and power; wrong thoughts 
are unreality and powerless, possessing the na- 
ture of dreams. Good thoughts are potent; evil 
thoughts are impotent, and they should appear 
thus.' Here you have the direct statement that 
right thoughts are reality and power; and as God 
is all reality and power, you can see that, correctly 



WHY AND HOW 73 

understood, right thoughts are divine Mind or the 
creative Cause of all that is real. Wrong thoughts 
are unreality and powerless, or the opposite of 
right thoughts, the one real power; and there- 
fore, mortal mind, being the opposite of divine 
Mind, wrong thoughts are seen to be what Mrs. 
Eddy was pleased to name mortal mind. Wrong 
or sick thought (mortal mind) is that which makes 
us sick, according to Mrs. Eddy; and right 
thought, true Reason, or divine Mind, the oppo- 
site of w T rong thought, is what heals us." 

Mrs. Viloxon sat quietly in her chair a few 
moments, then as she arose to go, said: "1 am 
now positively satisfied that you are entirely right. 
How blind we all have been, to call you the dis- 
loyal one. Why, I am of the opinion that you are 
the only one really loyal to Truth and Mrs. 
Eddy's teaching." 



CHAPTER III 

EMERGENCE INTO THE LIGHT 

"I see that you are very prompt, " said Mr. 
Williams as he extended his hand in greeting to 
his visitor of the day before; then added, "step 
into the private office. " 

"Yes, I meant to be prompt. The fact is, I 
could scarcely wait for the appointed hour to 
come. There is so much I want to know and so 
many questions I wish to ask," said Mrs. Viloxon. 

"Yes, that is the next symptom with all who 
are newly awakened," laughingly, said Mr. Wil- 
liams. 

"Mr. Williams, I sat up most of last night 
reading and studying, and I am satisfied of at 
least one thing." 

"Well, that is good. It certainly makes for 
mental harmony, even if we have become satisfied 
of only one little thing." 

"But this is a big thing to me. I am fully sat- 

74 



EMERGENCE INTO THE LIGHT 75 

isfied that you really have understood Mrs. Eddy 
aright," said Mrs. Viloxon with great certainty. 

"Oh pshaw! is that all?" jokingly, replied Mr. 
Williams. "Why, that is nothing new. I knew 
this ten years ago." 

"Yes, you have known it, and if the Christian 
Science field really knew it as I now do, your home 
would be besieged by a multitude." 

"Many more know it than you suppose. I 
already have students in most of the large cities, 
and teachers of my method in many places, and 
my correspondence is becoming so large that I 
do not find time to write to half of my friends of 
the spirit." 

"I cannot understand why, under these condi- 
tions, you are willing to give so much of your 
precious time to me." 

"I will tell you. Your first letter to me, told 
me plainly that you had a good and honest heart; 
and second, while I have quite a number of stu- 
dents in Chicago who use my method of apply- 
ing Christian Science, yet none of them are so 



76 THE UNFOLDMENT 

placed that they can engage actively in the healing 
and teaching field, and when I met you yesterday 
I felt that you were strong enough to open up 
this big field actively, once you had actual under- 
standing. As I always work for the greatest good 
to the greatest number, I decided to take the 
time to start you on the true path provided you 
could be placed in a teachable frame of mind. 
Now that you have become convinced that I really 
have understood Mrs. Eddy's teaching, I am more 
willing than ever to take the time necessary to 
give you a thorough insight into actual Christian 
Science, provided only, that you continue in the 
active position of practitioner and teacher." 

"But, the Manual, Mr. Williams. It forbids 
me to teach unless I am first taught the Normal 
course at Boston." 

"Oh! the ritual," smiled Mr. Williams. "It 
is so long since I looked into it that I had quite 
forgotten that there is such a book. I have not 
had the Normal course from the Boston Meta- 
physical College, so according to the Manual, 



EMERGENCE INTO THE LIGHT 77 

I would not be allowed to teach; still on page 67 
of 'Retrospection and Introspection/ Mrs. Eddy 
wrote: 'A primary class student, richly imbued 
with the spirit of Christ, is a better healer and 
teacher than a Normal class student who partakes 
less of God's Love' ; therefore, that by-law in the 
Manual pertaining to teaching is seen to be in 
error, for it stops the better teachers from teach- 
ing." He paused for a moment, then added: 
"But tell me, do you think that any of the present 
teachers in that college could teach me anything 
pertaining to metaphysics that I do not already 
know?" 

"Judging from some of my past experience I 
would say, No, of course not. How absurd then, 
for you to go there for teaching. Still, is not the 
Manual supposed to be an inspired book?" asked 
Mrs. Viloxon. 

"Yes, by the blind believers who give the word 
'inspired' a mysterious meaning. Webster de- 
fines the word to mean, 'to infuse into the mind' ; 
also, 'informed or directed by the Holy Spirit.' 



78 THE UNFOLDMENT 

When I teach you Truth, I am infusing Truth 
into your mind, thus you are being inspired; and 
if it is done with intelligence or actual understand- 
ing of Life one could say that you were being 
inspired by the Holy Spirit, — being informed by 
the Holy Ghost. Let me call your attention to 
Mrs. Eddy's definition of God in the Glossary 
of 'Science and Health,' page 587, line 5. The 
last definition given, is the single word 'intelli- 
gence,' and it is not capitalized. In many of the 
earlier editions, Mrs. Eddy capitalized the word 
'Understanding,' denoting God; and in the pres- 
ent edition of 'Science and Health,' page 536, 
line 8, you find this: 'The divine understanding 
reigns, is all.' It ought to be evident to you that 
that which reigns and is all, must be God. So 
the God that inspired Mrs. Eddy was not a mys- 
terious something outside of herself, but her own 
understanding of what is and what is not fact." 

"I can hardly grasp what you say, for the view- 
point is so new to me," said Mrs. Viloxon, 

"Let's away with all mysticism which tends to 



EMERGENCE INTO THE LIGHT 79 

becloud reason, and let us unveil the plain Truth. 
The Manual is no more inspired than the little 
'Plain Talk' booklets that you have read, or any 
other book or booklet that has been written from 
the standpoint of actual understanding." 

"But, Mr. Williams, there is printed on the fly 
leaf of the Manual an extract from a letter in 
'Miscellaneous Writings.' I have read it so often 
that I think I can repeat it. It says: '(Manual 
1908) The Rules and By-Laws in the Manual of 
The First Church of Christ, Scientist, Boston, 
originated not in solemn conclave as in ancient 
Sanhedrin. They were not arbitrary opinions im- 
posed on another. They were impelled by a 
power not one's own, were written at different 
dates as the occasion required.' There is more 
but I do not just recall." 

"Don't try. It is not worth the mental effort. 
This letter gives the blind believer an absolutely 
erroneous impression, for it causes him to think 
that either a personal or an impersonal God came 
to Mrs. Eddy and whispered those by-laws into 



80 THE UNFOLDMENT 

her ear; and thus is gained the false impression 
that a mysterious God inspired the statements 
written in the Manual; whereas, the fact is, Mrs. 
Eddy knew that understanding or right conscious- 
ness is God, and that her sense of right and not 
a mysterious God was the 'power not one's own' 
which caused her to write these by-laws. It were 
as though she had said: I did not write my own 
human opinion, but the Facts of Life as far as I 
understood them. That the by-laws were not 
always written from the standpoint of true con- 
sciousness or actual understanding, is seen in the 
fact that sometimes she changed them. If they 
had always been written by divine understanding, 
no rectification or change would have been neces- 
sary." 

"Mr. Williams, I am amazed at your ability 
to sift these matters to the bottom and reveal the 
common sense in them." 

"Mysticism is the bane of all religion, and I 
expose the seeming mystery wherever I can. I 
have also had some Science students tell me that 



EMERGENCE INTO THE LIGHT 81 

the lesson sermons in the Quarterly were inspired, 
intimating that a mysterious power was commu- 
nicating these lessons to Mrs. Eddy. The reason 
for this false sense is the 'Explanatory Note' 
which appears in the Quarterly, and which is read 
at every Sunday service. This 'Explanatory 
Note' ends with the following: 'constitutes a ser- 
mon undivorced from Truth, uncontaminated and 
unfettered by human hypotheses and divinely 
authorized/ What other sense could the shallow 
thinker get from this but that God made up these 
lesson sermons and handed them to Mrs. Eddy, 
and authorized her to give them to her followers 
the same as God is supposed to have made the ten 
commandments and handed them to Moses. 
Truly, the time for thinkers has come as Mrs. 
Eddy has written, and they will need to think 
very hard to sift the chaff from the wheat." 

Mrs. Viloxon sat as if transfixed, gazing at the 
man before her, but as she offered no reply, Mr. 
Williams continued: "The explanatory note that 
I just read you was from a Quarterly dated April 



82 THE UNFOLDMENT 

5th, 1914. I have here an older Quarterly dated 
January 2nd, 1898, and in this one the note ends: 
'authorized by Christ/ instead of 'divinely author- 
ized.' The word 'authorized* is in italics to em- 
phasize the authority as coming from Christ. 
Why the change, do you suppose ?" 

"You have revealed so much to me that I have 
not words with which to answer," said Mrs. 
Viloxon. 

"The babes in metaphysics do not understand 
the difference between the words 'Jesus' and 
'Christ'; and so, because of their past religious 
beliefs, they get the sense that Jesus, the only be- 
gotten son of God, has authorized these lesson 
sermons; whereas the fact is, that the word 
'Christ' means 'Truth,' true thought, right 
thought, true reason, or in plain language, the 
actual facts pertaining to Life. Thus you can see 
that the actual authority which Mrs. Eddy was 
talking about was not a mysterious Jesus or 
Christ, but the real authority was real Truth. 
Anyone else, writing truly, would have the same 



EMERGENCE INTO THE LIGHT 83 

right to state that what they have written was 
authorized by 'Christ,' Truth. I can see but one 
reason for the change in the 'Explanatory Note/ 
and that is that the words 'authorized by Christ' 
were too strong for even the faithful to digest, 
in this progressive age, and so the other or milder 
form was used." 

"I believe you are right," said Mrs. Viloxon, 
quietly. 

"Now let us examine into the claim that these 
lessons are 'uncontaminated and unfettered by 
human hypotheses.' The men who wrote the 
Bible were so-called human beings. Mrs. Eddy 
was a so-called human being. The translators 
who translated the Bible were so-called human 
beings. The Biblical writers laid no claim to 
infallibility, and we know that the translators 
made many misjudgments in their attempt to trans- 
late the real or spiritual meaning of the Scrip- 
tures. Then where is the justice of the claim that 
these lessons are uncontaminated by human sup- 
position?" 



84 THE UNFOLDMENT 

"How blind and bewildered I have been. Oh, 
why were these things done?" asked Mrs. Viloxon. 

"Now Mrs. Viloxon, never again mention the 
Manual or the lesson sermons to me as divine 
authority. I teach by the command of Jesus, not 
by the authority of Boston; and I consider this 
command regarding the spreading of the Gospel 
(the good spell) over all the earth to far out- 
reach any authority from Boston." 

"I see that you are right. Yes, you are always 
right. But, — " 

"No more buts or ifs," broke in Mr. Williams. 
"Remember the Master's admonition to the 
young man, — to sell all (dispose of all this non- 
sense), and follow Christ (true Reason)." 

"I will. I shall start anew, at once," said Mrs. 
Viloxon, with sound determination. 

"That is the right mental attitude. Come, and 
be born again; and this time into your God-being, 
instead of into another human being." 

"I don't quite understand what you mean, but 
I am ready to begin," she said, and a moment later 



EMERGENCE INTO THE LIGHT 85 

added "I suppose that the first step will be to 
send in my resignation to the local and Mother 
church, and openly announce that I have severed 
my connection with the veiled Truth. And then 
firmly take my stand to uphold the real Truth." 
"Yes, that would be the spectacular and erring 
human way. But really, all that you have men- 
tioned is non-essential, of no importance; and it 
amounts to nothing in the right direction." 
"I do not understand you, Mr. Williams." 
"I will explain. Right thinking is the funda- 
mental to all healing work. Can you not think 
right without sending in your resignation? Will 
it help you to think right to come out in a spectac- 
ular way, and unnecessarily incur the enmity of 
the religious zealot? As for upholding Truth, I 
want you to change your thought about this mat- 
ter. The real Truth needs no holding up or up- 
holding. It is strong enough to stand alone. Your 
work does not consist of upholding Truth, but in 
finding out the Truth and conforming your 
thought and actions thereto." 



86 THE UNFOLDMENT 

"What manner of man are you? I thought you 
would hail with delight the announcement of my 
determination to resign from the Science church 
and openly espouse your Cause. " 

"You were mistaken. I have no quarrel with 
the Science church nor any other church. In re- 
gard to organized church affairs, I would char- 
itably say with Jesus, 'suffer it to be so now.' The 
mental infant seems to need a crib. The thing 
I am combating is the idea that mental infants 
should remain infants forever, and never think 
for themselves or stand alone. I want them to 
become grown up, mentally, so that they can be- 
gin to work out their own salvation; and not with 
the fear and trembling that comes from uncer- 
tainty and mysticism, but with the fearlessness 
that comes from certainty and understanding. 
As far as espousing my cause, — I haven't any of 
my own. It is the cause of the universal brother- 
hood of man, and of eternal salvation from sin, 
sickness and death." 

"Mr. Williams, I hope some day to understand 



EMERGENCE INTO THE LIGHT 87 

you better and then be able to judge you rightly. 
Will you not tell me what attitude to take that I 
may grow out of the church ?" 

"On page 165, line 18 of 'Science and Health' 
there is a marginal heading which reads: 'Causes 
of sickness' and in the paragraph under this head- 
ing, Mrs. Eddy says in substance, that when you 
have a distressed stomach or aching head 'you 
consult your brain in order to remember what has 
hurt you, when your remedy lies in forgetting the 
whole thing.' I have found that the way to get 
rid of any mental inharmony, is to forget the 
whole thing as rapidly as possible. The reason 
this results in healing or mental harmony is be- 
cause the mental law is, 'out of mind, out of body/ 
Therefore, applying the same remedy to growth 
out of church organization, I would advise that 
you make the effort to forget the whole thing as 
rapidly and as quietly as possible, by paying no 
heed to the church or what the church members 
may or may not say." 



88 THE UNFOLDMENT 

"Would you or would you not attend, the 
services?" 

"That is a question for each individual to 
solve. If I felt like going occasionally, I would; 
and when I did not feel so inclined, I would not 
go. To attend church, just as a duty or to be 
seen of men, is another form of hypocrisy. I 
should say that the advice given by Mrs. Eddy 
on some other subject, would be good in the pres- 
ent instance. She says : 'emerge gently from mat- 
ter into Spirit,' and I would add: emerge gently 
from the infantile state into the 'measure of the 
stature of the fullness of Christ'. " 

"Your advice is sensible and your logic irref- 
utable, and I shall attempt to leave the church so 
gradually that it will not disturb a single babe in 
Christ." 

"That is the right idea. Mrs. Eddy says in 
'Retrospection and Introspection,' page 61, line 
29 : 'Let there be milk for babes.' Perhaps the 
babes in Christ (those who cannot stand alone, 
mentally) need the church to lean upon. She also 



EMERGENCE INTO THE LIGHT 89 

says in 'Science and Health/ page 371, line 20: 
'I would not transform the infant at once into a 
man, nor would I keep the suckling a lifelong 
babe.' That is the point which I am trying to 
get the satisfied church goers to see. Most of 
them seem to be so bound by fear of the organi- 
zation or hypnotized by their religious zeal and 
devotion to church that they do not move for- 
ward and up out of the church thought. Their 
fears hold them in the servant or babe position 
with no further mental growth.' ' 

"I see it all now. You want the babes to grow 
up and out of the infantile mental state, and do 
it without disturbing the others. You do not 
want the church destroyed/' said Mrs. Viloxon. 

"I should like to see the churches turned into 
metaphysical colleges with competent teachers in 
charge, giving several hours instruction daily, 
instead of one or two hours per week, as under 
the present system. The idea of building a hun- 
dred thousand dollar structure and then using this 
building two or three hours per week, seems folly 



90 THE UNFOLDMENT 

to me. The Readers should be competent teach- 
ers; and should teach from nine to twelve, and 
from one to four o'clock of each day, as is done in 
our public schools. These schools could be main- 
tained in the same manner and by the same ex- 
pense which now sustains them as churches. Now 
that you have a clearer view of this matter, let 
us take up the subject of right thinking." 

"I gave much thought to what you said yester- 
day about the healing being accomplished by our 
own right thought, and not an outside power; 
and with this clearer view in mind I could see 
innumerable places in Mrs. Eddy's writings where 
she intimates this, but why was it not plainly 
stated so that none could mistake," said Mrs. Vi- 
loxon. 

"Many reasons have been given for the veil- 
ing of Truth. I feel that it was a mistake to veil 
it, at least in this progressive age. However, it 
matters not. The work of unveiling has begun, 
and will not be stopped until all is made plain. 
It is now becoming known that Truth is true 



EMERGENCE INTO THE LIGHT 91 

thinking, is right thinking; and that our work is 
to discover the facts of Life (which is Truth), 
and keep all of our thinking in conformity with 
the facts of Being; and thus experience the true or 
harmonious Life, through daily right thinking." 

"Yes," she replied; "I can see the great neces- 
sity of our knowing what is and what is not fact, 
before we can hope to always think right." 

"I wish to call your attention to a marginal 
heading on page 114, line 25 of 'Science and 
Health/ which reads: 'Causation mental'. The 
paragraph to which this heading is attached states : 
'Christian Science explains all cause and effect as 
mental, not physical.' You will note that the 
statement reads, 'all cause' ; and there are no capi- 
tals to mar or obscure the sense. If the cause of 
all is mental, then mentality must be the seat of 
the cause of all. Carrying the subject further, 
the ills and blessings that you experience would 
be the experiences created by your own thought; 
and the experiences would be either ills or bless- 



92 THE UNFOLDMENT 

ings according to whether your own thought was 
right or wrong," said Mr. Williams. 

"I can scarcely agree with you on that subject, 
for the Bible teaches and Mrs. Eddy emphasizes 
the statement that the same fount sends not forth 
sweet and bitter waters, as your statement seems 
to imply," said Mrs. Viloxon. 

Mr. Williams was not in the least disturbed by 
w T hat his visitor said, although she thought that 
she had discovered a weak spot or a contradic- 
tion in his reasoning. 

After looking intently at his visitor for a mo- 
ment, he said: "I am pleased to note that your 
reason is becoming more active. Right thought 
and wrong thought are not from the same fount 
or foundation, even though both of these activi- 
ties are to be found in the individual mentality. 
Right thought has its fount or foundation in un- 
derstanding or God. Wrong thought has its 
foundation in erring belief or Satan, though both 
gain external expression through the individual 
mentality." 



EMERGENCE INTO THE LIGHT 93 

"I seem to see dimly what you are trying to 
have me understand, but if the cause of all is men- 
tal, why do we say that Spirit is the cause of all 
and that all is spiritual ?" asked Mrs. Viloxon. 

"Right mental action or right thought would 
be true mental action or Truth, and the Biblical 
writers used the word Spirit to designate right 
thought from wrong thought, and the word spir- 
itual to designate real or right effects from wrong 
effects. They knew that the mental element was 
a reasoning element, and so could think on both 
sides of any question; and therefore, the infan- 
tile mentality might think wrong, and thus pro- 
duce a seeming wrong condition. Wrong thought 
is error, and the only Satan there is. Right thought 
(right consciousness) and Spirit are one and the 
same. On page 453, line 6 of 'Science and Health/ 
Mrs. Eddy wrote: 'Right and wrong, truth and 
error, will be at strife in the minds of students, un- 
til victory rests on the side of invincible truth.' 
Here we have the word 'right' given the signifi- 
cance of Truth or God; and 'wrong' given the sig- 



94 THE UNFOLDMENT 

nificance of error or Satan. It ought now to be 
plain that our ills are caused by evil, error, our 
wrong thought. Then what is more reasonable 
than that they can be, and are, healed by our right 
thought, the opposite of evil? In this is seen the 
fact that we really do heal ourselves; and yet 
at the same time it is God, Truth, right or true 
thought, that does the work." 

"I have read that statement many times and 
remember distinctly that the word 'truth' was not 
capitalized. Therefore, I cannot agree with you 
when you bring out the sense that Mrs. Eddy 
meant Truth, God, in that statement," said Mrs. 
Viloxon. 

"Oh, those capitals! What an easy way to veil 
the real meaning and lead the student astray. The 
confusion resulting therefrom cannot be meas- 
ured. What greater truth could there be than 'in- 
vincible truth'? However, to fully convince you, 
I will call your attention to page 362 of 'Miscel- 
lany,' by Mary Baker Eddy. Here we find: 'I 
rejoice with you in the victory of right over wrong, 



EMERGENCE INTO THE LIGHT 95 

of Truth over error,' and the word 'Truth' in this 
statement carries the capital. Are you con- 
vinced?" asked Mr. Williams. 

Mrs. Viloxon nodded her head, as she re- 
marked: "Please continue, for I have no words 
with which to express my appreciation of the en- 
lightenment that you are bringing to my thought." 

"Very well. In common parlance, we could 
say that our wrong thought is the cause of our 
ills, and our own right thought is the healer. An 
astute reasoner might remind us that he had often 
thought of a certain illness and still not experi- 
enced it, and many Scientists would remind us 
of the fact that they had often thought of them- 
selves as well without being healed." 

"Why yes, that is true; and how would you 
explain this if it is our thought that is the sole 
cause?" asked Mrs. Viloxon. 

"The explanation is very simple when — " 

"Yes, it all seems very simple to you, but very 
wonderful to me," broke in Mrs. Viloxon. 

"It will also be simple and reasonable to you 



96 THE UNFOLDMENT 

before we are through. The explanation of why 
we can think of a disease and not experience it, 
and think health and not be healed, is this: The 
mentality does not externalize its passing thought, 
merely; but in reality it only externalizes its 
thought convictions and conclusions. It is well 
that this is true, else there would be a constantly 
changing panorama exhibited by the body. We 
know from daily experience that we can think 
of taking a walk, and still not take the walk; but 
when our thought reaches a conclusion or deci- 
sion, then we act out the thought conclusion or 
conviction, by walking. The same is true when 
we think we are going to be sick. The mere 
thought, without repeated thinking to the point 
of mental conviction, will not result in sickness; 
but let us arrive at a sound conclusion or convic- 
tion and hold this conclusion for a time, and the 
ill to correspond will be expressed by the body." 
"I understand, Mr. Williams. It is just as 
though the passing or fleeting thought does not 
register on the body; but the thoughts that reach 



EMERGENCE INTO THE LIGHT 97 

a conclusion or mental conviction do register on 
the body as sick or healthy conditions, to corre- 
spond to the nature and quality of the thought 
conviction. " 

"Yes, that is one way of stating it. This also 
illustrates how one may heal himself through con- 
tinued right thinking to the point where a sound 
conviction is gained." 

"It is not very clear to me as yet that my own 
right mental conclusion can heal me. But I sup- 
pose that is because in the past, I agreed with the 
idea that my wrong thinking made me sick, but 
thought that a power outside of me named divine 
Mind was responsible for the healing, and not my 
own right thinking," said Mrs. Viloxon. 

"No doubt, that is the reason. But it ought to 
be evident to you now, that if your sick thoughts 
made you sick, your own healthy thinking would 
make you healthy." 

"Yes, that sounds so very reasonable, but why 
was not this stated plainly, by Mrs. Eddy?" 

"All that I can say to you is, that it is quite 



98 THE UNFOLDMENT 

plainly stated in the earlier editions of 'Science 
and Health,' though changed back and forth by 
some one in the various editions following. For 
instance, on page 228 of the third edition, we 
read : 'Whatever the mind desires to produce on 
the body it should state mentally and abide by this 
statement/ You will notice that it reads, 'what- 
ever the mind desires to produce 1 . This 'the 
mind' can mean nothing but your own mind." 

"That certainly is a plain statement. I wonder 
why it was ever removed from the text-book?" 
the lady asked. 

"It was not removed from the text-book, but 
apparently it was too plain as it seemed to leave 
that mysterious God of the blind believer out of 
the healing work, and delegated the healing power 
to the individual's own mind. However, even as 
late as the 37th edition of 'Science and Health,' 
the statement reads : 'Whatever the mind desires 
to produce on the body it should express mentally, 
and hold fast to this idea.' There is a little 



EMERGENCE INTO THE LIGHT 99 

change in the words, but the sense has not been 
disturbed." 

"Yes, I should say that both statements mean 
the same, and would be very helpful to the pa- 
tient searcher for the healing Truth." 

"Now, Mrs. Viloxon, note carefully the differ- 
ence in the statement as given in the 78th edition. 
On page 391, w T e read: 'Whatever mortal mind 
desires to produce on the body it should express 
mentally and hold fast to this ideal.' You will 
note that the word 'mortal' has been added, as 
though only the erring mind produced effects on 
the body." 

"What could have been Mrs. Eddy's reason for 
adding that word?" The question was asked with 
great astonishment. 

"I think the reason is as I stated before, namely, 
that perhaps some one pointed out to her that, 
as the statement stood in the third edition, she was 
having the so-called human mind do the healing, 
and thus apparently leaving the mysterious God 
out of the work." 



100 THE UNFOLDMENT 

"I think it a shame that these changes were 
made," said Mrs. Viloxon. 

"That is not the worst of it, for in the present 
text-book we find still another change in this same 
statement. On page 392 of the 1907 edition of 
'Science and Health/ line 12, Mrs. Eddy wrote: 
'Whatever benefit mind desires to produce on the 
body, should be expressed mentally and thought 
should be held fast to this ideal.' You will notice 
that the word 'mortal' has been dropped." 

"Yes. Mrs. Eddy went back to her first state- 
ment, but why?" asked Mrs. Viloxon with per- 
plexity. 

"Not quite back to her first statement, for 
the very enlightening article 'the' has been 
left out. When we write 'the mind' we all 
know that it refers to the mind of the individ- 
ual; but with the article 'the' left out, it leaves 
you to guess whether she meant mortal mind, 
human mind, or divine Mind; and I know from 
experience that all are still guessing." 

"But why did Mrs. Eddy again drop the word 



EMERGENCE INTO THE LIGHT 101 

'mortal' from the statement after once having 
used it?" asked Mrs. Viloxon. 

"The only reason I can see is, that again some 
one pointed out to her that according to the state- 
ment with the word 'mortal' in it, she was prac- 
tically saying that mortal mind was producing the 
good as well as the bad effects experienced in the 
body; in other words, mortal mind, according to 
that statement, made us sick, and could also pro- 
duce so-called bodily health." 

"What a conglomeration of opposites to be 
found in a text-book!" said Mrs. Viloxon, with 
a look of disgust. "Are you sure that Mrs. Eddy 
made all of these changes?" 

"No, I am not sure, and it matters not who 
made them. The fact is that they are in the book 
that Christian Scientists accept as their text-book 
to the understanding of eternal Life." 

"Is it not the general opinion of the Science 
field that Mrs. Eddy constantly kept revising 
'Science and Health' with the intention of making 



102 THE UNFOLDMENT 

it more correct, and easier to understand?" asked 
Mrs. Viloxon. 

u Yes. I have heard that stated, and some have 
told me they were certain that this was the reason 
for the constant changes. But what is 'general 
opinion'? Is it a cause or an effect ?" 

"I don't believe that I understand your ques- 
tion," she replied. 

"General opinion is not a cause, but an effect; 
and we can scarcely have any effect without a 
cause. In my investigations of general opinions 
regarding politics and other public affairs, I have 
satisfied myself, that back of the usual general 
opinion, there is a cause; which cause is usually 
composed of a nucleus of three or four people 
who plan or form the seed of this future general 
opinion. Those at the helm know just the right 
soil in which to plant this seed of future general 
opinion, so that it will spread rapidly. From this 
it can be seen that, as a rule, public opinion is not 
the spontaneous, automatic outgrowth of general 
opinion, but is really the opinion or will of a few." 



EMERGENCE INTO THE LIGHT 103 

"Do you wish to intimate that this is what was 
done in the present instance?" asked Mrs. Vi- 
loxon. 

"I wish to intimate nothing. I was merely 
illustrating how the opinion or will of a few can 
be made to permeate a certain group of people 
through mental contagion; and therefore, we 
should not be guided too easily by public opinion, 
but should think and reason for ourselves." 

"But Mr. Williams, if I cannot depend on my 
text-book, what am I to do?" And fear and anx- 
iety were in her voice. 

Mr. Williams laughed softly, then said: "Ex- 
cuse me for laughing, but your question brought 
a statement of Mrs. Eddy's so forcibly to my 
thought that I could not help but laugh." 

"Would you mind repeating the statement for 
me?" she asked. 

"I will look it up for you. It is in 'Science and 
Health.' Yes, here it is, page 238, line 10, and 
it says : "Losing her crucifix, the Roman Cath'dlic 
girl ibid, 'I hWve nb&in& left bii't biffttV' 



104 THE UNFOLDMENT 

Mrs. Viloxon, who had moved forward in 
anxious anticipation, slowly leaned back in her 
chair, with her gaze fixed steadily on the laughing 
face before her. After a few moments thought, 
she said: "I cannot fathom you at all. You have 
such a certainty in your understanding that noth- 
ing seems to have escaped you, and you appear 
to me like an unshakable rock." 

"If that which you, in the past, called under- 
standing did not make you certain and unshakable 
as a rock, then it was not real understanding, but 
belief, which you called understanding." 

"Perhaps you are right, for it is evident to me 
that what I have gained by my study has not made 
me certain and unshakable, but rather the reverse. 
I well know what you mean by that reference to 
the crucifix, but what am I to do without a text- 
book?" 

"I did not tell you to throw away your text- 
book. It is your own good reason which is tell- 
ing you, that, from what I have pointed out, the 
text-book is not quite as infallible an authority 



EMERGENCE INTO THE LIGHT 105 

as you thought. I have also been citing statements 
from the earlier editions, and telling you that the 
early editions are much plainer ; therefore, what is 
to hinder you from getting an earlier edition, if 
you feel that you must have a 'Science and 
Health' ?" 

"Mr. Williams, you are unfolding so many new 
thoughts to me that I am afraid I shall forget 
some of the very important ones. Would you 
object if I took a few notes ?" 

"No objection at all. Take all that you care 
to." 

"Thank you. You said something about right 
thoughts being the God that heals, and I should 
like to take that down so as to understand it bet- 
ter. The thing that is not clear to me is this: If 
my right thought is God, what relation do I hold 
to my right thought or God?" 

"Good! We are really beginning to think. The 
relation which you bear to your right thought is 
that of father to son." 

"I don't believe I understand that," said Mrs. 



106 THE UNFOLDMENT 

Viloxon, as a look of perplexity overspread her 
face. 

"No, I suppose you don't. Yet, according to 
Mrs. Eddy, you have never started right in Chris- 
tian Science until you do understand this." 

"I don't remember having read anything of 
this import, written by Mrs. Eddy. Will you tell 
me where I can find the statement ?" 

"Mrs. Viloxon, do you remember that the Scrip- 
tures state that upon one occasion, Jesus said to 
Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews : 'Verily, verily 
I say unto thee, except a man be born again, he 
cannot see the Kingdom of God' ?" 

"Yes," she replied. "I have read the statement 
many times, and I have been told by some that 
the coming into Christian Science was this being 
born again." 

"No, not that which you call Christian Science. 
The re-birth or new birth is much more than 
that." 

"I do not follow you at all, Mr. Williams." 

"I will explain. Mrs. E<fdy, in speaking of 



EMERGENCE INTO THE LIGHT 107 

Jesus, said, he 'arose in his God-Being.' Do you 
know what a God-Being is?" 

"No, I don't believe I ever gave it a thought." 

"We are all born so-called human beings, and 
Paul calls this being, the natural man, for he said: 
'first cometh the natural man,' then 'the spiritual 
man'. He might as well have said: then comes 
the Spirit-man, the Spirit-Being (the Being who 
knows that he is Spirit), the God-Being (the Be- 
ing who knows that he is God). Therefore, 
the re-birth is not merely the joining of the Chris- 
tian Science church or any other church; but to 
arise mentally to the position of your God-Being; 
or to awake to the Truth that you are a God- 
Being, instead of a human being; to awake to 
the knowledge that you are a being that is God." 

As Mr. Williams stopped speaking, he noticed 
from the startled look in the eye of his visitor, 
that she was laboring under a sense of great fear; 
but he said nothing further, seeming to wait for 
his visitor to speak. 

After several more moments of silence, Mrs. 



108 THE UNFOLDMENT 

Viloxon said: "Oh, Mr. Williams, why did you 
say that? I did have such great hopes that I had 
found the actual Truth in what you were telling 
me; but your last statement, that we are God, has 
shocked and startled me, and also proven to me 
that you have mistaken the way. Oh! I am so 
sorry." 

"Instead of being sorry either for me or your- 
self, you should demand of me the proof that we 
are God; and if I cannot prove what I have stated, 
to your full satisfaction, then it will be time 
enough to be sorry." 

"But you cannot prove that we are God. I 
distinctly remember Mrs. Eddy's statement that 
man is never God." 

"I fully agree with that statement. Man is 
never God. But this statement in no wise conflicts 
with the statement that you are God." 

"Mr. Williams! How can you make such an 
absurd statement?" 

The same calm, reassuring smile began to ap- 
pear on the face of the teacher, and it somehow 



EMERGENCE INTO THE LIGHT 109 

told his visitor that he would be able to prove 
his words, satisfactorily; and she waited eagerly 
for him to begin. At length he said: u This very 
question is the rock which divides the shallow be- 
liever from the understander; the so-called human 
being from the God-Being that Mrs. Eddy wants 
us to be. I would not have made the statement 
if I had doubted my ability to make you see the 
truth of it." 

After a pause, he continued: "First, I will ex- 
plain to you your relation to your right thought. 
I stated that it was the same as that of father to 
son. You will admit that right thought is the out- 
come of right mentality. Right mentality and 
right consciousness are one and the same. Right 
consciousness is true consciousness, and Mrs. Eddy 
says in 'Unity of Good' that 'all true conscious- 
ness is God.' We have always considered God 
as the Father or first Cause. If right thought 
is the outcome of right mentality, then it is born 
or created by the Father of all and would be the 
real Son of God, the Savior or Christ; thus, the 



110 THE UNFOLDMENT 

relationship of father and son is established. I 
should prefer that the word 'Son' be written 
'Sun,' for right thought is also the light or con- 
scious awareness of the primal element, named 
consciousness. To lead this reasoning further 
and show you that you are God, you will need to 
follow me carefully and think before you speak 
so as not to contradict yourself. Does Mrs. Eddy 
teach that God is all?" asked Mr. Williams. 

"Yes," slowly answered Mrs. Viloxon. 

"Can there be more than all?" 

"No, and Mrs. Eddy also says not," replied 
Mrs. Viloxon. 

"If God is all, it is evident that there cannot 
be more than all, for all includes everything. If 
there seemed to be anything outside of the all, it 
would be nothing but a seeming, or really noth- 
ing." 

"That is a peculiar statement, but if God is all, 

there could be nothing else," said Mrs. Viloxon. 

- ^'Very well. If God is all, then you are God 



EMERGENCE INTO THE LIGHT 111 

or nothing, for God cannot be the all, and there 
be you besides." ^ 

Mrs. Viloxon was silent for a moment, then 
said: "Mrs. Eddy also says that God and His 
idea is all, and I claim to be the idea of God." 

"Yes, I know she said that God and His idea 
is all, but do you understand what she means ?" 
asked Mr. Williams. 

"Why yes, certainly. She means that there is 
a supreme Being named God, and us. The su- 
preme Being would be God, and we would be 
idea or man." 

"Did you ever find any place in 'Science and 
Health' where Mrs. Eddy said that 'you are 
man'?" 

"That seems a foolish question to me. I am 
sure Mrs. Eddy has said it a hundred times. 
Please hand me that 'Science and Health/ and 
I will show it to you." 

Handing the book to her, Mr. Williams said: 
"Very well, but remember the statement you are 



112 THE UNFOLDMENT 

looking for is 'you are man' and not some other 
assertion." 

Mrs. Viloxon began to search and turn the 
pages, while Mr. Williams quietly waited. At 
length she said: "Here Mrs. Eddy wrote: 'man 
is the image of God/ which is the same thing as, 
'you are man.' 

"It would be, providing you could find a place 
where she said, you are the image of God." 

"But I am the image of God. The Bible 
teaches that man is the image of God, and so 
does Mrs. Eddy." 

"Yes, both the Bible and Mrs. Eddy teach that 
man is the image of God; but neither one teaches 
that you are man; nor do they teach that you arc 
the image of God." 

"Mr. Williams, I can see no difference at all." 

"Perhaps not, but if you did see the difference, 
you would no doubt make short work of your 
ills." 

"Well, I am certain that I am not God. It's 
absurd, and the absurdity is clearly seen in this, — 



EMERGENCE INTO THE LIGHT 113 

if I were God and I prayed, then I would be 
praying to myself. What nonsense !" and there 
was a look of genuine disgust on the woman's 
face. 

The teacher's face showed just the opposite 
emotion. First came the smile, and after a little 
the smile broke forth into a merry laugh. After 
a bit, he controlled his laughter and said: "Ex- 
cuse me. I was not laughing at you, but at the 
idea of you, praying to yourself," and he laughed 
again. 

At length his visitor relaxed somewhat and 
laughed softly, as she said: "You were joking 
were you not, when you made the statement that 
I was God? I suppose you said it to see what 
I would say." 

A look of seriousness at once appeared on the 
teacher's face, as he answered: "No, Mrs. 
Viloxon, I was never more serious in my life. 
The fact that you are God is what I am striving 
to teach you." 

"But Mrs. Eddy does not teach that. She 



114 THE UNFOLDMENT 

never said that we were God," said Mrs. Viloxon, 
with a decided toss of her head. 

"Suppose she did not say it, but that I claim 
it and teach it. What would you say?" 

"I would say that you were wrong and teach- 
ing wrong." 

"Suppose Mrs. Eddy did say it, what then?" 
asked Mr. Williams. 

"Well, I don't know what I would think. But 
if it could be proven to me that she did say it, 
I would be inclined to think it was right." 

"In other words, you are so wedded to Mrs. 
Eddy that if some one else stated a truth you 
would not believe it; but if Mrs. Eddy said some- 
thing, even though in error, you would believe it. 
Don't you think that is about as narrow as any 
one can be? A fact is a fact, and it makes no 
difference who states the fact. The thing is to 
prove that it is a fact, or disprove it. Neverthe- 
less, Mrs. Eddy did say in substance, and also 
taught that we are God. When she wrote 'God 



EMERGENCE INTO THE LIGHT 115 

is all/ she stated that you are God, as I have 
shown you." 

"But the single statement that 'God is all,' 
would not satisfy me, for it does not plainly state 
that I am God." 

"Mrs. Eddy expected that the awakened stu- 
dent would be able to reason a little; and sup- 
posed that if she stated that 'God is all,' and the 
student found himself something, he must con- 
sider himself part of the all, or God," replied 
Mr. Williams. 

"Well, that does not satisfy me," said Mrs. 
Viloxon with great positiveness. "And besides, 
I know that Mrs. Eddy never wrote that we are 
God." 

"That is the peculiar part of you Christian 
Science students. You think you know all that 
Mrs. Eddy ever said, and most of you have never 
read beyond the mental milk bottle. Why don't 
you wake up to the facts. Every one knows that 
you feed infants on milk; and therefore, the first 
book that you would give a mental infant, would 



116 THE UNFOLDMENT 

be a book with the milk of the Word in it. The 
plain, undiluted meat of the Word can be found 
in her writings, but scarcely in the present edition 
of 'Science and Health'." 

"You mean that the latest edition of 'Science 
and Health' is the milk of the word?" 

"Yes, that is my understanding of it; for I find 
much plainer statements of Truth elsewhere in 
her writings." 

"Will you kindly tell me where?" she asked. 

"There are many plain statements in the first 
few editions of 'Science and Health,' in her two 
pamphlets entitled, 'Christian Healing,' and 'The 
People's Idea of God,' and also in certain parts 
of her other writings," replied the teacher. 

"I have not spent much time on her other 
works," said Mrs. Viloxon. "I devoted all my 
time to 'Science and Health'." 

"That is what all the various practitioners tell 
me. This sticking to a babe's diet of milk, when 
they ought to grow up mentally and partake of 
the meat of the Word, is the thing I object to." 



EMERGENCE INTO THE LIGHT 117 

"Please show me what you mean by the meat 
of the Word." 

"Very well, I will do so"; and reaching over 
on his desk, he took up the first edition of "Science 
and Health" and turned to page 39, and said: 
"read the statement that is underscored." 

Mrs. Viloxon took the book, and read aloud: 
"To know that we are Soul and not body is start- 
ing right." Then she glanced at Mr. Williams, 
and a moment later read the statement silently. 
Not yet being satisfied, she turned to the front 
of the book and read, "Science and Health by 
Mary Baker Glover." Looking into space, she 
slowly laid the book in her lap, and said : "There 
must be some mistake." 

"Yes, there is a mistake," remarked Mr. Wil- 
liams; "but the mistake is in your thought, and 
not in that statement." 

"But the word 'SouP is capitalized, denoting 
God," was the reply. 

"Then you think perhaps it is a typographical 
error?" he asked. 



118 THE UNFOLDMENT 

"It certainly must be, unless there are other 
places where she says the same thing." 

"Please look on page 54, and read the state- 
ment that you find underscored." 

Picking up the book again, she turned to the 
page mentioned and read aloud: "Therefore to 
be the recipient of Truth, we must begin to rec- 
ognize ourselves Soul and not body." 

Mr. Williams now asked: "Is the word 'Soul' 
in that statement capitalized, denoting God?" 

A very slow, "Yes," was the answer. 

He waited for her to say something more but 
as she remained silent, he asked: "Would you 
like more proof?" 

"Have you more?" asked Mrs. Viloxon. 

"Yes, turn to page 77, and read what is un- 
derscored there." 

Turning to the page indicated, she read aloud : 
"The final understanding that we are Spirit must 
come." 

"Does the word 'Spirit' carry a capital?" asked 
Mr. Williams. 



EMERGENCE INTO THE LIGHT 119 

"Yes, it does," was the answer; and her voice 
was scarcely audible. 

"Now turn to page 155, and read what is 
underscored." 

Mrs. Viloxon did as requested and read: "That 
we are Spirit, and Spirit is God, is undeniably 
true." 

"Turn to page 14, please," said Mr. Williams. 

Finding the page, Mrs. Viloxon read: "We 
are Spirit, Soul and not body," then remarked: 
"the words 'Spirit' and 'Soul' are capitalized. I 
am dumbfounded!" She then leaned back in her 
chair as though very weary, and slowly laid the 
book in her lap. 

Mr. Williams now said, "Turn to page — " 

"That will do, Mr. Williams," broke in Mrs. 
Viloxon. "I cannot bear more just now." After 
a moment, she added: "Would you mind if I 
copied those statements into my note book?" 

"I have no objection whatever." 

After she had finished copying the statements, 
she closed her note book, and said: "If you 



120 THE UNFOLDMENT 

don't mind I will go to my room at the hotel. 
I must have time to think this matter all out by 
myself." 

"A very wise plan!" said Mr. Williams; and 
then continued in a kindly tone: "and please don't 
worry about the matter, but reason calmly; and 
you will find that the simple Truth of those won- 
derful statements will unfold to your conscious- 
ness as the only true solution of the Master's 
teaching. You may come at the same hour to- 
morrow." 

"I shall try to be prompt," replied Mrs. 
Viloxon, as she went out of the door. 



CHAPTER IV 

THE SICKLE 

The next day, Mrs. Viloxon was scarcely 
seated in Mr. Williams' office before she began 
saying: "I knew all along yesterday, while we 
were discussing the matter of our being God, 
that there was something wrong, and that some 
vital thing which I ought to have remembered, 
had escaped me. Last night as I was carefully 
reviewing the matter, mentally, I awoke to the 
true situation." 

"I should be glad to hear the outcome of your 
reasoning," said Mr. Williams. 

"I was positive that I could not be God, and 
that Mrs. Eddy did not so teach; and I also felt 
that divine Love would lead me, if I would only 
ask." 

"And did you ask divine Love to lead you?" 

"Yes I did," said Mrs. Viloxon; "and I had 
an almost instantaneous demonstration." 

121 



122 THE UNFOLDMENT 

"I am very much interested. Would you mind 
telling me about it?" asked Mr. Williams. 

"That is my only reason for coming. I did 
not come to-day with the intention of asking fur- 
ther enlightenment from you, because I am satis- 
fied that you are wrong in your thought. Or- 
dinarily, I should have just gone back to Chicago, 
but I am sure that you are sincere, Mr. Williams, 
even though you are wrong; and I felt it no more 
than right that I show you the way, because you 
at least tried to show me the way," and there 
was a beaming smile on her face, as she said it. 

"That was certainly a kind thought, and I am 
all wrought up to hear what you have discovered 
which proves to you that my teaching is wrong," 
and a quiet smile played about the lips of Mr. 
Williams. 

Mrs. Viloxon noticed it, and said: "You don't 
seem very wrought up in appearance." 

"You know appearances are often deceiving. 
Now for instance, in your own case, I thought 
from your appearance that I was going to have 



THE SICKLE 123 

a real thinker in you; but from what I just heard 
I am inclined to think that appearances are indeed 
deceptive." 

"I am a thinker, else I would not have been 
able to see through all this error." 

"Well I am ready to be convinced that you 
are right," said Mr. Williams, kindly. 

"I was thinking the whole matter over last 
night, and while working mentally I kept think- 
ing: divine Love will show me the error. After a 
half hour's work, divine Love did show me the 
error, and this is it : Mrs. Eddy repudiated these 
early writings as incorrect, and that is why we do 
not find these seemingly plain statements in the 
present edition of 'Science and Health'; and this 
also explains why my teacher told me not to read 
or study the earlier editions. He knew they were 
wrong, and therefore warned me, so that I would 
not be misled." 

"That is rather a broad statement, and on the 
whole is very unkind to Mrs. Eddy. In that 
statement you practically admit that Mrs. Eddy 



124 THE UNFOLDMENT 

made mistakes when she wrote the early editions, 
and therefore did not know what she was writing 
about. I would like to know, according to your 
idea, just when you think Mrs. Eddy did come to 
understand Science. " 

"No, I am not saying that Mrs. Eddy made 
mistakes when she wrote the early editions, " said 
Mrs. Viloxon hurriedly; "she merely changed her 
statements to make them plainer." 

"But you said she repudiated the early editions 
of 'Science and Health/ did you not? As I un- 
derstand it, she repudiated some early letters and 
pamphlets as not entirely correct, but not any 
editions of 'Science and Health.' If she merely 
made the changes in statements to make them 
more readily understood, then, according to this 
reasoning, the early statements are still correct, 
though not as understandable. According to this 
theory, no one would have the right to say that 
the early editions were incorrect, would they?" 
asked Mr. Williams. 

"No, not eaxctly; but if these statements were 



THE SICKLE 125 

essential, they would also appear in the present 
edition," said Mrs. Viloxon. 

"That is just the point. They do appear in the 
present edition, but are so diluted with unneces- 
sary verbiage that the plainer meaning is lost in 
the superabundance of words; or through the 
peculiar use of capitals, just an inkling of the real 
meaning remains to be discerned." 

"Mr. Williams, I am afraid that you have 
made a statement which you will find hard to 
prove. After I arrived at my room, I made a 
special search through the present edition, to see 
if I could find any statements which had the same 
import as the ones I copied from the first edition; 
and I found none at all." 

"They are there just the same, even if you did 
not discover them," was Mr. Williams' reply. 

"I have read and studied the present edition 
for years, and have memorized a great part of it; 
and I could not recall a single passage with the 
import that I am God; and am sure there are 
none." 



126 THE UNFOLDMENT 

"If I show you that statements of the same 
import as the ones you took notes of yesterday, 
are to be found in the present edition, though 
veiled, will you be satisfied that Mrs. Eddy's state- 
ments in the first edition are correct, and still in 
force ?" 

"Oh yes. If you can show me any thing in the 
present edition that upholds the statements from 
the first edition, I will have to admit that you are 
right, and that I have been wrong." 

"Very well. Here, on page 23 of the first 
edition of 'Science and Health,' Mrs. Eddy 
wrote : 'Soul and body are God and man, Prin- 
ciple and its idea.' The question is, which of 
these two do you consider yourself to be?" asked 
Mr. Williams. 

"I claim to be idea," said Mrs. Viloxon; "and 
all Scientists whom I know state that they are the 
idea of God." 

"Yes, so I understand. Then according to 
that, you consider yourself the body of God," re- 
plied Mr. Williams. 



THE SICKLE 127 

"No, I don't think I ever considered myself 
the body of God, but the idea of God," was the 
reply. 

"Mrs. Eddy's statement that 'Soul and body are 
God and man, Principle and its idea,' shows that 
idea and body are one and the same; so if you 
are the idea of God then you are the body of 
God." 

"But I do not like to say it that way/' said 
Mrs. Viloxon. 

"I know you don't; and the reason why, is that 
you don't really know what either statement 
means. However, let us consider another term. 
Is your body your identity?" 

"I should think so. At least it would be the 
form of my identity." 

"Mrs. Eddy says that man is the identity of 
God, does she not?" 

"Yes, I believe I have read that statement," 
replied Mrs. Viloxon. 

"According to this, identity and body would 
be the same. You admit that your body is your 



128 THE UNFOLDMENT 

identity or form, and so the identity of God would 
be his form or body. Thus, man would be the 
body of God, just as Mrs. Eddy says." 

"But Mr. Williams, I don't like the idea of 
saying that I am the body of God. I am the idea 
of God." 

"And I am trying to show you that if you are 
one, you must be the other. Now let us turn to 
the present or latest edition of 'Science and 
Health,' and see if we can get any light on the 
subject. On page 477, line 19, Mrs. Eddy is 
supposed to have asked the question, 'What are 
body and Soul?' The answer is: 'Identity is the 
reflection of Spirit.' I have had hundreds ask 
me why Mrs. Eddy did not answer the question 
she asked. The question is answered in the words 
'Identity is the reflection of Spirit.' The word 
'identity' was used to mean body, and the word 
'Spirit' to mean God. If there had been no at- 
tempt to veil, the writer would have written in 
answer to the plain question, this plain answer: 
Body is the reflection of Soul; body is the em- 



THE SICKLE 129 

bodiment of Soul. Then there would have been 
no question about the meaning. Here you see 
one of the ways in which the original plain state- 
ments of the first edition have been transformed 
out of all recognition, though careful reasoning 
reveals that the statement, 'Soul and body are 
God and man' means the same as, 'Identity is the 
reflection of Spirit'. " 

"I can scarcely believe that you are right. Mrs. 
Eddy would not have intentionally obscured the 
simple meaning of the first statement, in the man- 
ner indicated on page 477. " 

"I am making no assertions, " said Mr. Wil- 
liams. "I am not saying that Mrs. Eddy did it. 
I am merely pointing out these things as they 
exist in plain print, and you must form your own 
conclusions as to who did it." 

"I will need to think deeply on the subject. At 
any rate, the statement does not say that man is 
God," remarked Mrs. Viloxon. 

"Neither do I say that man is God. I do say 
that when Mrs. Eddy is understood rightly, she 



130 THE UNFOLDMENT 

teaches that man is body, that is, that the term 
( man' means 'body'." 

"Do you know of any place in her writings 
where she states or implies that man is body, Mr. 
Williams ?" 

"Yes, on page 22, third edition of 'Science and 
Health,' is the statement that 'the body of Soul is 
man/ and she also explains the matter. On page 
20 of the same edition, she wrote: 'In place of 
sentient matter, we have sensationless bodies, and 
God the Soul of the body, and man's existence 
perpetual in its identification of Deity.' There 
you have a statement in which Mrs. Eddy says 
in substance, that the Soul of your body is God; 
and that the body is man, the identity or identifi- 
cation of Deity or God." 

"But that statement is from the early editions, 
and I want something from the present edition," 
said Mrs. Viloxon. 

"Just a moment and I shall satisfy your thought. 
On page 22, third edition of 'Science and Health,' 
there is a statement regarding this matter. I have 



THE SICKLE 131 

traced this statement through many editions, be- 
cause it seemed to me to be a basic one. I also 
wanted to find how the statement read in the pres- 
ent edition. As given in this third edition it reads : 
'The science of being reveals man perfect even 
as the Father is perfect; because the Soul of man 
is God.' There is more to the statement but I 
want to call your attention to the fact that even 
though you regard yourself as man, yet accord- 
ing to this statement your Soul would be God. 
Your Soul is your real self as you perhaps know, 
for when the Soul leaves this plane, you have left, 
thus showing that the Soul and you, are one and 
the same." 

u Oh, Mr. Williams, I would like to admit this 
but I simply cannot. I made the attempt last 
evening to take the mental position that I was 
God, and the next instant I was all a tremble with 
the fear that I might be punished for my pre- 
sumption." 

u The old ideas of God are not easily gotten 
rid of. It took much reasoning and study before 



132 THE UNFOLDMENT 

I could take the advanced position and feel that 
I understood it. Just have patience! I have 
made it clear to hundreds, and I shall be able to 
make it clear to you." 

"I am afraid. not," she replied. "I sometimes 
think that I don't want it to be that way." 

"In other words, you hope that you will find 
out for a certainty that you are not God," said 
Mr. Williams. 

"Well, something of that sort." 

"I should think that you would be more vitally 
interested in actually proving what you are, in- 
stead of what you are not. However, let us go on 
with that citation, it continues: 'The Scriptures 
inform us that 'God is Love' the 'Truth and the 
Life,' therefore He is Principle and not person, 
and the body of Soul is man, the idea of this 
Principle and his conscious Life and intelligence is 
Soul and not body.' Can you not understand from 
this that the conscious 'You' is Soul, God; and the 
unconscious body is man, the idea, reflection or 
embodiment of the conscious 'You'?" 



THE SICKLE 133 

"I see that these statements must mean that, but 
they are from the earlier editions," said Mrs. 
Viloxon, much disturbed. 

"Very well, we will now look into the present 
or latest edition and see what Mrs. Eddy has said 
on this subject. Here, on page 319, line 18, in 
the latest edition of 'Science and Health,' Mrs. 
Eddy wrote: 'Mystery, miracle, sin, and death 
will disappear when it becomes fairly understood 
that the divine Mind controls man and man has 
no Mind but God.' If we take the position that 
you are Soul or Mind, as I claim, and that your 
body is man; then the statement means that you, 
being the Soul, would be God. Taking the posi- 
tion that you are man, as you claim; then the 
statement would mean that your Mind is God, for 
the statement reads that 'man' (which would be 
you according to your theory) 'has no Mind but 
God'; thus again, the 'You,' the consciousness 
(your consciousness), would be God." 

"I cannot believe that the statement means what 



134 THE UNFOLDMENT 

you say; there is some mistake," said Mrs. Vi- 
loxon. 

u You have been believing too much and too 
long already. I don't want you to believe a single 
statement. I want you to think, reason and inves- 
tigate, and get to that mental rock, understand- 
ing, which gives you dominion over all ills." 

"I want to understand. I want the Truth. 
Why were these things hidden from the earnest 
seeker?" asked Mrs. Viloxon. 

"I have my own opinions regarding the matter, 
but I never like to state mere opinions. I shall 
again read that statement from the third edition : 
'The science of being reveals man perfect even 
as the father is perfect, because the Soul of man 
is God.' It does not take much mental wrestling 
to realize that this statement means that my Soul, 
the conscious part of me, the real me, is God. 
Now I shall read from the latest edition: 'The 
Science of being reveals man as perfect, even as 
the Father is perfect, because the Soul or Mind 
of the Spiritual man is God/ Ytfu can s€6 that 



THE SICKLE 135 

the statements mean exactly the same, but by using 
the phrase 'of the spiritual man' the student 
thinks it does not mean himself, but a spiritual 
man; and thus he loses the real sense of the state- 
ment as gleaned from the plainer, simpler state- 
ment in the earlier edition. The student does not 
stop to think that Mrs. Eddy teaches that, scien- 
tifically, there is no mortal man, therefore, the 
only man there is, is the spiritual man. Correctly 
understood, the statement, 'the spiritual man/ 
does not refer to the 'I, 1 or individual conscious- 
ness, for the T is Spirit, as Mrs. Eddy says, on 
page 249, line 21, 'Science and Health.' The 
man referred to in both statements is the body, 
the embodiment, the spiritual embodiment, the 
embodiment of Spirit; the embodiment of Mind, 
the embodiment of the mental element, the em- 
bodiment of the mentality; your embodiment, your 
mental embodiment, for there is no material em- 
bodiment. The body that we call matter, is mat- 
ter so-called; but in reality, it is the effect of mind, 
or mentality. Therefore, rightly \lridefsto6d-, it 



136 THE UNFOLDMENT 

is a mental body, instead of a material body; and 
as mentality is consciousness, then right mentality 
would be right or true consciousness, and Mrs. 
Eddy says that all true consciousness is God, or 
Spirit; therefore, the embodiment of right men- 
tality would be the embodiment, identity, reflec- 
tion or body of Spirit, and it would be Spiritual, 
because the cause of it is Spirit." 

Mr. Williams paused a moment that his visitor 
might gain the first import of his statement, then 
he continued: u Remembering that Mrs. Eddy 
said that man is body, or man means body, we can 
arrive at the understanding that when she spoke 
of the spiritual man she was not speaking of the 
individual consciousness (you), but was speaking 
of the embodiment of Spirit, or the spiritual em- 
bodiment, or mental body. There are not two 
distinct bodies, one material and the other spir- 
itual; there is only the spiritual or thought body 
(the body composed of thoughts), the mental or 
visible manifestation of mentality, though mis- 
takenly called material. That I am in accord with 



THE SICKLE 137 

Mrs. Eddy's thought on the question can be seen 
from this statement taken from page 26, 'Miscel- 
laneous Writings/ — 'The only logical conclusion 
is that all is Mind and its manifestation, from the 
rolling of worlds, in the most subtle ether, to a 
potato-patch/ Therefore, rightly understood, a 
potato-patch is spiritual and not material, as most 
Scientists teach." 

When Mr. Williams finished speaking, Mrs. 
Viloxon continued to gaze steadily at him for sev- 
eral moments, then with some show of excitement, 
said: "I am confused. I am lost in a maze. 
You have bewildered me with the depth and 
rapidity of the enlightenment that you have just 
given me. I want to remember it all and write it 
all down, but am afraid I shall not retain a tenth 
part of what you said. I can but ask again, why 
did not Mrs. Eddy continue the plainer statements 
so that all might have understood? Or why do 
you not put this in plain print so that all honest 
seekers could gain -the right import of the Christ 
Science, and arrive at that unshakable founda- 



138 THE UNFOLDMENT 

tion stone, understanding, so necessary to the com- 
plete harmony of mind and body." 

"I have already done so. It has been in plain 
print for several years; and the book that contains 
this plain statement of Life is already scattered 
from Alaska to Australia." 

"You have written such a book!" ejaculated 
Mrs. Viloxon, with great surprise. 

"Yes, several years ago," was the quiet reply. 

"I never heard of it. What is the title? Tell 
me all about it, for I shall surely want one." 

Mr. Williams thought silently a moment, then 
said: "It is quite a story, but since you ask it I 
will tell you briefly of the book. From the very 
beginning, I was very successful in the healing 
field of Christian Science; and as my various 
writings were soon in the hands of thousands of 
students, practitioners and teachers, they recog- 
nized the fact that I had something which the 
majority did not have. Soon the letters from 
thfe field began td arrive asking for help. Stime 
of these pVti^rftS had received frVatrtffetit from 



THE SICKLE 139 

those considered foremost in this work, but their 
cases not having been reached some came to me. 
I was successful, and they would return home 
and tell of it. A little later, I began to receive 
letters from practitioners; some stated that they 
had a brother, sister or father who did not re- 
spond; and asked if I would take the case. As 
these cases were healed, many practitioners who 
had not been entirely successful in meeting their 
own cases applied for healing, and again I was 
successful. Some of these practitioners had had 
treatment from their teachers, but not always 
with successful results. Later, when I healed 
them, they went to their teachers and told of the 
healing and who had accomplished it. Thus I got 
in touch with the students of many teachers and 
the teachers themselves. " 

"I have several times heard of your success as 
a practitioner, and wondered how a mistaken and 
disloyal student could be so successful," said Mrs. 
Viloxdn. 

Mr. William's smiled and siaid: "After years 



140 THE UNFOLDMENT 

of success, with perhaps a percentage of healing 
second to none, the friends among the practi- 
tioners and teachers constantly and persistently 
urged me to put into plain print my understanding 
of the Christ Science, and also my method of ap- 
plication. This call continued until I decided that 
I would write such a book, setting forth as plainly 
as possible my method of application, and my 
understanding of the Christ Science. At length 
the book was finished, in its manuscript form; but 
when I thought of putting these plain statements 
of the facts of Life into print for broadcast dis- 
tribution, I hesitated, — not because of fear, but 
because these very enlightening statements would 
startle and shock the blind believer. I began to 
ask myself whether the time was ripe for such 
a book, and held the book from print. Several 
times the thought of veiling the plainer statements 
slightly came to mind; but when I looked about 
me and saw what confusion and turmoil had re- 
sulted from veiling the plainer statements in the 
Bible and 'Science and Health,' I decided that 



THE SICKLE 141 

veiling the Truth had been proven a mistake, and 
that if I ever published the book it would carry 
no veil. Reasoning as to the best method of get- 
ting this great, unveiled Truth before the people, 
I thought of writing out a series of booklets, which 
would lead gradually from the present erring 
sense of Truth up to the plain statements of 
Truth as I had them in my book, 'The Sickle'." 

" The Sickle'," said Mrs. Viloxon. "Is that 
the name of the book in which Truth is stated 
without any veiling?" 

"Yes, that is the title of the book." 

"I am sure I never heard of it," she said. 

"Perhaps not. The fact of the matter is, the 
book is not sold in the ordinary way. I have never 
advertised it broadcast, as it is a book written 
solely for honest thinkers and I am striving to 
keep it out of the hands of triflers," said Mr. 
Williams. 

"But how can you do that?" asked Mrs. Vi- 
loxon. 

"I have placed several restrictions on the sale 



142 THE UNFOLDMENT 

of the book. At first, I only sold it to those whom 
I personally knew were ready for the advanced 
thought. Then, at the request of these 'Sickle' 
owners and my students, I began to sell the book 
to those whom the students recommended, and 
also to those whom the present 'Sickle' owners 
recommended, as honest seekers." 

"But suppose that I happened to live in a city 
or village where there were no 'Sickle' owners to 
recommend me?" asked Mrs. Viloxon. 

"Yes, that has occurred several times, and I 
devised the method that, in cases of this kind, the 
prospective purchaser must get 'The Plain Talk' 
booklets first, and read and study them. If they 
did not get mental indigestion from reading these, 
they would still desire 'The Sickle' ; whereas, if 
they could not mentally assimilate the 'Plain 
Talk' booklets, they would no longer wish to 
purchase the book. I also instruct all 'Sickle' 
owners to advise their friends who want the book 
to first secure 'The Plain Talk' booklets, and 
read them, and afterwards, 'The Sickle'." 



THE SICKLE 143 

"Is it a large book, Mr. Williams?" 

"No, quite small, even smaller than the morocco 
bound 'Science and Health.' It contains 390 
pages." As he said this, he reached over to his 
desk and picked up a little book and said: "This 
is it." 

Mrs. Viloxon took the book and after looking 
it over for a moment, said: "Is not that a queer 
title for a book of this nature?" 

"After you have read the book," he said, "I 
am sure you will agree with its thousands of read- 
ers that there could be no other name for it." 

"Well I want one. Can I get it here from 
you?" 

"Yes, but first I want you to read the balance 
of the 'Plain Talk' booklets. You say you have 
read two of them, I will give you the others; and 
after reading them, if you still think that you want 
'The Sickle,' I will sell you one." 

"May I ask the price?" asked Mrs. Viloxon. 

"The price is twenty-five dollars per copy." 

"Twenty-five dollars!" she exclaimed in amaze- 



144 THE UNFOLDMENT 

ment. "Did I hear aright? Twenty-five dollars 
per copy?" 

"Yes, that is right," and Mr. Williams smiled. 

"Why that looks like a get-rich-quick scheme." 
The lady was plainly sarcastic. 

"Does it? Well the money is the least part of 
it as far as I am concerned. Had I wanted to 
make a lot of money from the book, and cared 
for nothing but the money, I would have put it 
out in the ordinary way as I do my other books, 
and at the usual price; and I would have sold 
hundreds to where I now sell one, and make twice 
the money," replied Mr. Williams. 

"If it is not the money, you must have some 
other good reason for asking such a price." 

"Yes, I have several," replied Mr. Williams, 
then added, "the merely curious will scarcely pay 
twenty-five dollars for a little book, and so this 
keeps it out of their hands. I also know that the 
human mind values cheaply that which it secures 
cheaply, and that it values highly that which it 
cannot secure cheaply. Another reason is that 



THE SICKLE 145 

scarcely any one would stop at one reading of a 
book which cost them twenty-five dollars, and so 
they read it repeatedly. This is what I desire, for 
eventually, in this way, they come to see the great 
worth of that which is written in the book." 

"What could be written there that w^ould be 
of such value ?" 

"Mrs. Viloxon, I have hundreds of letters tell- 
ing me that the owners of 'The Sickle' would not 
take a thousand dollars for their copy, if they 
could not get another," said Mr. Williams. Af- 
ter a moment he continued: "In families where 
the husband is away from home much of the time, 
such as traveling salesmen, it is not uncommon for 
them to buy two copies; and in some homes there 
is a copy for each one in the family." 

"You astonish me more and more. Yet I ought 
soon to get over this state, for I am fast finding 
out that I was sound asleep as far as real Chris- 
tian Science is concerned." 

"Yes, you are now waking up to the real facts 
of Life, to the real understanding of Life; and 



146 THE UNFOLDMENT 

are getting away from the belief of Life or God, 
which you mistakenly believed was actual Truth, 
or Christian Science." 

"Does 'The Sickle' explain Soul and body, and 
Mind and thought ?" asked Mrs. Viloxon. 

u Yes, I will read you a sample of the work. 
Here, on page 46, is the question: 'What is 
man?' After explaining carefully, somewhat af- 
ter the manner I have been explaining to you, that 
man is idea, you find these statements: 'Man 
is God's idea of Himself. Man is Mind's idea 
of Itself. Man is God's expression of Himself. 
Man is Life's expression of Itself. God is entity 
or Being. Man is identity, or that by which 
Being is identified. Man is the visible effect of 
the invisible Cause or God.' Do you gather any- 
thing worth while from these statements?" 

"Oh yes. The last one especially, — 'Man is 
the visible effect of the invisible Cause or God.' 
From this I understand that the mental or invis- 
ible part of me is the Cause or God, and the body 



THE SICKLE 147 

is the visible effect or embodiment, named man. 
Am I right?" 

"Yes," said Mr. Williams, u and this brings 
out Mrs. Eddy's statement in 'Miscellaneous 
Writings,' page 23 : 'God is both noumena and 
phenomena,' also that God and man co-exist as 
Cause and effect." 

"I am beginning to see the light as never be- 
fore," said Mrs. Viloxon, with enthusiasm. 

"Bearing these thoughts in mind, you can see 
why your sick thinking makes you sick, and your 
healthy thinking must make you well; for the body 
and its conditions are the thought effect following 
as a sure result of your thinking, or of your men- 
tal conclusions." 

"Why did I not know this long ago? My, 
what time I have wasted in petitions to a God 
that did not exist; and how I have neglected the 
real power of God, namely, right thinking." 

"It's never too late to begin, and by diligent 
work we can gain back the time seemingly lost." 



148 THE UNFOLDMENT 

"Does 'The Sickle' also explain God in a sim- 
ple manner?" was her next question. 

"Yes, but in much greater detail; for Mrs. 
Eddy has correctly written that you have never 
started right in Christian Science until you know 
that you are God; therefore the proof that you 
are God is plentifully shown in the book. While 
it is highly important to know what is God, and 
also what man is, the most vital thing to know 
is, who or what you are." 

"Yes, I am beginning to see the importance of 
knowing what I am," replied Mrs. Viloxon. 

"I have devoted a chapter to the subject, 'you'. 
The summing up of this chapter occurs on page 
63 of 'The Sickle,' and is as follows: 'The ques- 
tion of who or what you are is answered as fol- 
lows: You (your substance) is the primal ele- 
ment, or elemental Mind, God, Life, Conscious- 
ness. You (your thought) is the subjective state 
of Spirit, Mind, God, Life, Consciousness. You 
(the body of you) is the visible or objective state 
of Spirit, Mind, God, Life, Consciousness. Thus 



THE SICKLE 149 

you see you are composed of, and are, the Holy 
Trinity for God is all, and there is nothing else.' 
Does that enlighten you any?" 

"I can only say, wonderful if true. Is this the 
teaching of Mrs. Eddy?" asked Mrs. Viloxon. 

"Yes, as I understand her writings; and it is the 
teaching of Jesus, Paul, John, and the other dis- 
ciples." 

"I cannot understand why these plain state-, 
ments do not appear in our present text-book, Mr. 
Williams," and her tone was very emphatic. 

"Mrs. Eddy was perhaps wiser than her most 
ardent students gave her credit for. She wrote 
that there should be 'milk for babes,' and know- 
ing that 'Science and Health' was the first Science 
book handed to the new babes in Christ, it would 
only seem natural that it should contain the meat 
of the Word in a diluted or veiled form which 
we call the milk of the Word." 

"You may be right, but I was told that all that 
I ever needed was in the text-book." 



150 THE UNFOLDMENT 

"Then why did Mrs. Eddy write more than 
the text-book ?" asked Mr. Williams. 

"I cannot tell," she replied. 

"I am inclined to think that she felt that the 
real thinker and searcher would not be satisfied 
with the mere milk, and would therefore seek in 
her other writings," said Mr. Williams. 

"Then you believe her other writings to be 
plainer than 'Science and Health'." 

"Yes, I do. That is, plainer than the latest 
edition but not plainer than the early ones; how- 
ever, none of her works state Truth as simply and 
plainly as 'The Sickle,' as is shown by the heaps 
of letters from Science students who write me 
this." 

"Would you mind showing me something in 
Mrs. Eddy's other writings which is plainer than 
'Science and Health'?" asked Mrs. Viloxon. 

"Not at all. On page 183, line 24 of 'Miscel- 
laneous Writings,' she wrote: 'Asserting a self- 
hood apart from God, is a denial of man's spir- 
itual sonship; for it claims another father.' In 



THE SICKLE 151 

other words, to believe that there is another self- 
hood than God is error; or to state it very plainly, 
to claim that self is not God is a mistake." 

u Oh, I never saw this in that light before," said 
Mrs. Viloxon. 

"I only hope you see it clearly now, for it is 
a vital statement. In the edition of 1907, 'Unity 
of Good,' page 5, Mrs. Eddy wrote: 'All true 
consciousness is God.' If this means anything 
at all, it means that when your consciousness is 
true, it is God. In other words, when your con- 
sciousness or mentality is thinking truly, it is 
God." 

"What a wonderful way you have of reasoning 
these things," said Mrs. Viloxon. "I have read 
that statement many times but never saw the real 
meaning." 

"In Mrs. Eddy's pamphlet, The People's Idea 
of God,' page 1, she wrote: 'Even the pangs of 
death disappear, accordingly as the understand- 
ing that we are spiritual beings here reappears'. 
In other words, we can overcome the belief of 



152 THE UNFOLDMENT 

death if we rightly understand that we are Spirit, 
here and now." 

"I do not get anything like that out of the state- 
ment, Mr. Williams. She says 'spiritual beings,' 
and not Spirit." 

"If there was such a thing as a material being 
would it not be composed of matter?" asked Mr. 
Williams. 

"Yes, certainly," she replied. 

"Then why would not a spiritual being be 
Spirit?" 

"Oh!" was all the reply that Mrs. Viloxon 
made. 

Mr. Williams continued: "In that same pam- 
phlet, page 12, there is something worth while in 
regard to healing. This is the statement: Tew 
there be who know what a power mind is to heal 
when imbued with the spiritual truth'. The word 
mind is not capitalized, and this shows you that 
it is your own mind which is meant; and the only 
thing necessary is that you think truly, or in con- 
formity with the facts of Life. In one of the older 



THE SICKLE 153 

editions, Mrs. Eddy said in substance that the fact 
of being whispered into the ear (attentive con- 
sciousness) of the patient is what heals him; 
meaning, that to silently tell the patient the actual 
facts concerning his case is what liberates him 
from his false beliefs. The work can be done 
orally, as well or even better than silently, if the 
healer actually understands Life." 

"Mr. Williams, are all Scientists who come to 
you as confused and dense as I have been?" asked 
Mrs. Viloxon. 

"Have you met any Scientists who could make 
plain these things to you?" he asked. 

"No, I have not," she replied. 

"Then you may draw your own conclusions. 
But that is not the point. All will understand in 
due time. Here is a statement in 'Christian Heal- 
ing,' another pamphlet of Mrs. Eddy's, that is 
very enlightening. It is on page 6, and reads: 
'But the fact remains in metaphysics, that the mind 
of the individual only can produce a result upon 
his body'. This statement is very positive, and 



154 THE UNFOLDMENT 

it means that nothing but your own mind can pro- 
duce a result upon your own body. This even shuts 
out the idea that this outside divine Mind, or any 
other outside God, can produce the healing of your 
body. Nothing at all but your own mind can pro- 
duce bodily results for you, either good or bad, 
according to this last statement I have read." 

"I am silenced. I have nothing more to say. 
It surely has been a case of the blind leading the 
blind," sadly, said Mrs. Viloxon. 

"We will now consider one more statement in 
'Christian Healing,' and then we will stop for 
the day. The statement appears on page 10, and 
is as follows: 'If you wish to be happy, argue 
with yourself on the side of happiness; take the 
side you wish to carry, and be careful not to talk 
on both sides, or to argue stronger for sorrow 
than for joy. You are the attorney for the case, 
and will win or lose according to your plea.' This 
statement pertains to the treatment of all manner 
of ills. If you wish to be well argue with your- 
self on the side of health. There is no outside 



THE SICKLE 155 

God or power to consult at all. 'Take the side 
you wish to carry/ and insist on that side. Now 
notice, 'You are the attorney for the case and will 
win or lose according to your plea.' The word 
'plea' means, 'debate or argument or that which 
is alleged as fact.' Thus you can see that an 
outside power or God has nothing to do with 
the matter at all. The work is all done within 
the individual's own mind in self-healing, and 
consists in convincing himself of the fact that 
the good or perfect is the real, and the other side 
is nothing. You win the case, not because of 
any foreign power or Cause, or through conces- 
sion from an outside source, but you win or lose 
according to whether your reasoning convinces 
you of the truth that the perfect and good is the 
fact, and the imperfect and evil, the fable. This 
verifies the statement of Jesus, that the 'Kingdom 
is within,' — within your own mind and thought. 
And when you work out these problems of Life, 
you are doing the bidding of the Bible, namely, 
'Work out your own salvation' ; and I might add, 



156 THE UNFOLDMENT 

that it will not be worked out permanently, until 
you do it yourself." 

"Mr. Williams, I came today, not just to scoff 
perhaps, but something like it. I stayed to pray 
(reason), and now I am going home to rejoice." 

"Don't forget to read the 'Plain Talk' book- 
lets tonight," was the parting admonition of Mr. 
Williams. 



CHAPTER V 

CLASS TEACHING 

"You will please pardon me for having kept 
you waiting a few moments, Mrs. Viloxon. I am 
usually prompt, but this was unavoidable." So 
said Mr. Williams to his visitor, as he entered his 
private office the next day. 

"No apology necessary, Mr. Williams. I am 
very happy to see you at all. If you have not fin- 
ished please do so, I shall gladly wait." 

"Yes, I have finished. I was awaiting your 
appointed time, but just a few minutes before you 
came, I had an unexpected visitor. A practi- 
tioner, going from the east to visit friends in Cal- 
ifornia, thought she would stop off and have a 
few hours chat with me. I had to take the time 
to explain to the lady that all my time is fully 
spoken for, and that I do not see any one but 
my students, except by appointment." 

"My, what a privilege your students have." 
157 



158 THE UNFOLDMENT 

"My students understand the work I have to 
do, and not one of them ever intrudes to take 
up my time unnecessarily; but all know that they 
can come at any time for necessary advice." 

"Then I can come to you for advice ?" asked 
Mrs. Viloxon. 

"Yes, after you have taken the teacher's class 
course/' was his reply. 

"Is not that what you are now giving me?" she 
asked. 

Mr. Williams smiled as he said : "No. This is 
neither class instruction, nor the private teacher's 
course. These are merely simple, disconnected 
talks. The course is a distinct and fully connected 
teaching, taking up all points on metaphysical 
healing. We have merely been discussing vari- 
ous mooted points, that is all." 

"And I thought all the time I was getting your 
private teacher's course. Why, I have already 
had ten times the enlightenment that I received 
from my former class teaching," said Mrs. Vi- 
loxon with decision. 



CLASS TEACHING 159 

"Then you received more out of your class 
instructions than hundreds of others who have 
told me of their experience. Most of them tell 
me that they got nothing tangible. " 

"Neither did I. So I do not see why you say 
I received more than the others." 

"You said you had received ten times as much 
from these informal talks as you did from your 
class. Well, ten times nothing would still be noth- 
ing; therefore, you either received something 
from your former class or nothing from these 
talks." 

"I see what you mean," laughingly replied Mrs. 
Viloxon; "but you know what I meant." 

"Yes, I know. But please do not think that 
these talks are class instructions. There is no 
contention or controversy in my classes. I would 
not attempt to give you the teacher's course while 
you were in the same frame of mind as when you 
first came. Under such conditions, most of the 
teaching would have been lost, because you 
doubted me and my understanding; and therefore, 



160 THE UNFOLDMENT 

you would not have gotten value received for 
your tuition money. I have been striving to con- 
vince you that I do understand Metaphysics and 
Mrs. Eddy's writings, correctly; and perhaps at 
some later day you will come to one of my 
classes." 

"But I am now fully convinced, Mr. Williams; 
and will gladly make arrangements to take pri- 
vate instructions at once if you have no class 
planned for the near future." 

"It is some time since I gave the teacher's 
course, privately. The call has so enlarged for 
the teacher's class course, that I do not teach any 
primary classes, and cannot find the time to teach 
any one, privately. My students are capable of 
giving the beginners the primary class, and fit 
them for self healing; and so I am devoting all my 
time to writing, and to the teacher's class course." 

"When will you have your next class?" asked 
Mrs. Viloxon. 

"As yet, I have no stated time for classes. I 
shall be pleased to place your name on my list, 



CLASS TEACHING 161 

and then you will be notified, when and where the 
next class will be held; and if you are ready, I 
shall be glad to teach you." 

"If I am ready? Why I am ready now, or at 
any time," she replied. 

"You may think you are ready, but first I should 
want you to study the 'Plain Talk' booklets, and 
put a few months study on 'The Sickle'. Then 
your thought would be receptive to the new and 
true viewpoint of the Christ Science. ,, 

"Oh, I see. It is not a question with you, of 
seeing how many you can get to go through class. 
You want them to be ready mentally so that they 
will be a credit to you afterwards." 

"Yes, that is it. There are already plenty of 
believers in Science. I am striving to make a few 
understanders." 

"That is also the reason why I allow my stu- 
dents to go through class a second and third time, 
free of charge. I merely reserve the right to say 
which of the students be allowed to go through 
the second and third time, and when." 



162 THE UNFOLDMENT 

"I should think that all would wish to go 
through as often as possible, for there is so much 
to learn/' said Mrs. Viloxon. 

"My students must prove by clean living that 
they are entitled to further enlightenment from 
me, that is all." 

"Oh, I see," she answered, with a knowing 
look. "You mentioned the Tlain Talk' booklets, 
— do you know that I did not retire until two 
o'clock this morning? I simply could not let go 
of them; they are wonderful, and words fail me 
when I attempt to express my gratitude for them." 

"They are wonderful to you, perhaps, but sim- 
ply natural and common sense to me. If you 
enjoyed the booklets so extremely, then you have 
a greater treat in store for you in 'The Sickle'." 

"Mr. Williams, when you told me the price of 
the book was twenty-five dollars, I really thought 
it outrageous; but I want to tell you plainly that 
I would not give up those little Tlain Talk' book- 
lets for twenty-five dollars if I could not get more 



CLASS TEACHING 163 

of them; and I want a copy of 'The Sickle' as soon 
as you will sell it to me." 

"If the booklets did not cause you any serious 
mental disturbance, then I guess you are ready 
for stronger meat, and I shall be glad to sell you 
'The Sickle'. It is not my desire to keep it away 
from any one, but because of the nature of the 
book, I want it only in the hands of those whose 
thought has arisen to the Christ viewpoint. Oth- 
erwise, what the book contains would be of no 
especial benefit to the reader, and I do not want 
the people to pay twenty-five dollars for the book, 
and not get their money's worth in return." 

"I am beginning to understand you better," said 
Mrs. Viloxon. "But really, from the human 
standpoint, the price of the book makes it look 
like a money making scheme." 

"It is not impossible that some individuals are 
honest at heart, and have an honest motive back 
of what they do. I never cared for public opin- 
ion. My mentor is my own conscience. If that 



164 THE UNFOLDMENT 

tells me that a thing is right, I ask no questions 
but act out my highest thought." 

"But you have been so terribly misjudged by 
your brother and sister Scientists. Why, I heard 
all manner of reports about you." 

"Oh well, I can but say with my Leader, Mrs. 
Eddy: 'If mortal mind knew better it would do 
better'. Jesus was misjudged, so was Paul and 
the other disciples. So was Mrs. Eddy, in the 
beginning. Then how could I, or any other pio- 
neer in this field of healing and saving, expect 
to wholly escape. Early in the work, when I 
was but a mental infant, it truly hurt; but on 
one occasion when speaking to a friend in Boston 
about the matter, this friend said: 'You ought 
to rejoice that others are throwing stones at you, 
for it is positive proof that you are in advance 
of them; for human beings do not stone those 
who are behind or beneath them, but always the 
ones who are in front and above.' This explained 
the whole matter as far as I was concerned, and 



CLASS TEACHING 165 

I never again gave any serious attention to the 
stoning. " 

"I wish that I had your sense of certainty, your 
surety, your self-confidence, your patience; instead 
of the faltering, halting, doubting mentality that 
I have," said Mrs. Viloxon, with feeling. 

"There is only one way to get it, and that is 
through understanding Life, God, as He or It 
really is. Now let us continue our talk of yes- 
terday. Was there anything further that you 
would like to ask regarding self-healing?" 

u Yes, indeed. I would like to have you out- 
line just what treatment to give myself, to get rid 
of my ills." 

"I have not the time to enter into detailed heal- 
ing work. The methods of applying right thought 
to the overcoming of various ills, properly be- 
longs in the class room; and in my classes I teach 
this, but can only talk on general lines in informal 
talks of this kind. I showed you plainly Mrs. 
Eddy's general method of procedure, when I 
pointed out to you that you were the attorney for 



166 THE UNFOLDMENT 

your case; that you win or lose according to your 
plea. You must reason with yourself (not with 
an outside God), and always strive to gain the 
point of mental conviction, that you are perfect 
now, and always were, it matters not what the ill 
may be." 

"Yes, that statement is wonderfully enlighten- 
ing, and proved to me that Mrs. Eddy does teach 
that we can heal ourselves through the exercise 
of our own right thought, but I wanted the spe- 
cific right thought with which to handle my pres- 
ent ill." 

"Enlightenment, or even the knowing of the 
right thought is but half the work, and the lesser 
half. The healing follows as a consequent of 
persistent mental application of the right thought 
until the point is reached where the wrong thought 
is forced out of consciousness through a convic- 
tion in the right. It is at this point in the work 
that so many fail. Many gain the right idea of 
the work, and see what they ought to do; but 
spend most of each day in continuing the wrong 



CLASS TEACHING 167 

thought or doing nothing in the right direction. 
Later, they wonder why they are not healed. I 
want to impress upon you that self-healing is an 
individual problem, with no power but your own 
mentality to consider; for it is the individual's 
sick thought that will keep him constantly sick, 
or on the other hand, his right or healthy thought 
that will heal and keep him constantly healthy. 
If there is no right thought activity being pro- 
duced by the individual when trying to heal self, 
there is no healing force at work in that case." 

"Yes, I am beginning to see that," Mr. Wil- 
liams; "and my heart bleeds for the hundreds 
who have been misguided as I was, and who are 
waiting, waiting, for something that they call 
divine Love to have compassion on them and heal 
them." 

"Yes, they have a long wait before them. Mrs. 
Eddy positively tells them that the 'rule is estab- 
lished/ and that we have only to avail ourselves 
of the rule. This means that the facts of mental 
healing have been established, namely, that our 



168 THE UNFOLDMENT 

sick thoughts are responsible for our sickness, 
and our healthy thoughts are responsible for our 
health and success; and it is our work to avail 
ourselves of this fact or rule of Mind, and apply 
it." 

"You could not say it plainer. It must be so. 
Now would you mind giving me a little enlighten- 
ment in regard to the healing of others by a prac- 
titioner?" 

"I shall be pleased to do so," said Mr. Wil- 
liams. u But before we leave this subject of self- 
healing, I wish to call your attention to one more 
statement of Mrs. Eddy's in 'Miscellaneous 
Writings/ page 219. Here she wrote:\'that a 
state of health is but a state of consciousness made 
manifest on the body, and vice versa.' In other 
words, health is a mental state, and so is sickness; 
and therefore, to heal one's self we have but to 
change our mental states from sickness to health, 
and keep them changed, and the body will change 
to correspond. It is not a mystery at all, but just 
a mental work taken up by the individual himself 



CLASS TEACHING 169 

to change his present erring sense of sickness to 
the right sense that he is naturally well, which is 
the fact of Life or Being." 

"Yes, yes! How simple and plain it is when it 
is pointed out. How blind I have been!" ex- 
claimed Mrs. Viloxon. 

"In trying to discover how the healing of an- 
other is accomplished, we need but to continue 
the same article on page 219 of 'Miscellaneous 
Writings'. It reads: 'That while one person 
feels wickedly and acts wickedly, another knows 
that if he can change this evil sense and con- 
sciousness to a good sense, or conscious good- 
ness, the fruits of goodness will follow.' It is 
just the same with sickness, when the patient says 
he feels sick, or that he has a sense of sickness. 
It is the practitioner's work to change this sense 
of sickness to a sense of health; either through 
oral talk, by explaining the facts of Life to the 
point where the patient can see the facts of the 
matter, and thus induce him to let go of his err- 
ing belief and so gain a change of sense from 



170 THE UNFOLDMENT 

sickness to health; or through silent corrective 
thought, applied direct to the consciousness of 
the patient, to produce a conviction of health." 

"According to that, there is no mystery con- 
nected with it at all. Just plain common sense!" 
said Mrs. Viloxon. 

"Plain common sense, based upon the facts of 
Life, God; and the repeated application of this 
common sense to the nonsense of the patient, until 
the point is reached where the patient renounces 
his nonsense and accepts the common sense (right 
sense). The common sense (right sense) is always 
that the good and perfect is the real, and all of 
Life." 

"I am astounded at my own density in the past. 
To think of the worry, the doubt, the useless 
effort of pleading and patiently waiting for some 
outside power to heal my patients. Mr. Wil- 
liams, I am really disgusted with myself." 

"It is not all your fault. It was and is a case 
of the blind leading the blind, which could be 
the only outcome of a veiled or blinded teaching. 



CLASS TEACHING 171 

When you again take up mental healing, don't 
wait upon an outside power. Get to work, and 
mentally enlighten your patient, for Mrs. Eddy 
says, 'Science and Health,' page 12, line 23: 
'help should come from the enlightened under- 
standing,' and not from an outside power as you 
believed. If your case is not responding prop- 
erly, use your common sense and inquire into the 
peculiarities of the patient's belief, and then ad- 
minister repeated and bountiful doses of com- 
mon sense from the standpoint that the good and 
perfect is all; and as you succeed in having your 
patient see these facts of Life, he will recover." 

"Would you advise any particular length of 
treatment?" 

u On page 220, 'Miscellaneous Writings,' Mrs. 
Eddy tells you the proper length of treatments. 
In speaking of the practitioner she says : 'He per- 
sists in this course until the patient's mind yields, 
and the harmonious thought has full control over 
this mind on the point at issue.' " 

"Why then, these ten or fifteen minute treat- 



172 THE UNFOLDMENT 

ments, as now practiced, are not at all in accord 
with her advice, " said Mrs. Viloxon. "I can now 
see that my ten minutes of corrective thought to 
combat the all day long wrong thought of the 
average patient, amounted almost to a farce. " 

"Now don't be too severe or condemn your- 
self unnecessarily. You have not been taught dif- 
ferently. It is not the practitioners whom I blame. 
Many give several fifteen minute treatments, and 
only get paid for one. It is the system that is 
at fault, and this false system was brought about 
by the belief that if the practitioner would treat 
a few minutes then a mysterious God would do 
the rest," said Mr. Williams kindly. 

"Yes, I can see the error. It just occurs to 
my thought that if all this is correct, and I believe 
it is, then, in reality, it is the practitioner who 
heals and not God." 

"I can do no better than to again refer you to 
that same article on 'Mental Practice,' page 220, 
'Miscellaneous Writings,' which says: 'This men- 
tal practitioner has changed his patient's conscious- 



CLASS TEACHING 173 

ness from sickness to health. The patient's men- 
tal state is now the diametrical opposite of what 
it was when the mental practitioner undertook to 
transform it, and he is improved morally and 
physically'." 

The enlightenment that was beaming on the 
face of Mrs. Viloxon was good to behold, as she 
said: "Then, according to Mrs. Eddy's state- 
ment, it is the practitioner himself who does the 
healing, and not divine Love or other outside 
power; and it is all mental too. Still, nearly all 
Christian Scientists oppose and get angry, if you 
advance the thought to them that Christian Sci- 
ence is mental science. In fact, I have many 
times rebuked others for saying that Christian 
Science was mental science. What fools we have 
been! No wonder that Scientists have been called 
a peculiar people." 

"Well, well, we are coming along rapidly. Let 
us not get excited. People who live in glass houses 
ought not to throw stones," were the soothing 
words of Mr. Williams. 



174 THE UNFOLDMENT 

At once his visitor relaxed, and said: "You 
are right. But to think that I have been mentally 
bound these past twenty-seven years, and so 
blinded that I thought the other fellow was in 
error, makes me feel deeply." 

"If you had used your reason, you would have 
escaped all this. In your text-book, page 410, is 
a sub-title in very plain print which reads: 'Men- 
tal treatment illustrated.' That, alone, ought to 
have caused you to think." 

"Yes, I remember it and have read it hundreds 
of times. "Of course, mental treatment illustrated 
would be the illustration of a mental treatment; 
and a mental treatment would necessarily be the 
application of a mental Science. I am fast com- 
ing to believe that I don't know how to think at 
all," said Mrs. Viloxon, with disgust. 

"It's not as bad as that. You just gave a good 
exhibition of thinking when you analyzed the mat- 
ter," replied Mr. Williams. 

"I wonder how much more nonsense I have 



CLASS TEACHING 175 

stored away in my mentality, which I considered 
actual understanding?" she asked. 

"If you are like the rest, you still have plenty 
more." This was said with a quiet laugh. 

"Well, I want to be rid of it, and at once," 
said Mrs. Viloxon, with vim. 

"Easier said than done. The mental errors 
which one has cherished as priceless possessions 
for a quarter century, are not so easily disposed 
of, for the mentality holds tenaciously to the 
things once considered priceless. Before I for- 
get it, I wish to call your attention to something 
that you said, because it may leave a false im- 
pression in your thought. You stated that it was 
the practitioner who did the healing, and this is 
correct; but you added, 'and not God,' this is incor- 
rect.' ' 

"I don't quite understand you, Mr. Williams." 

"No, for if you did, you would not have made 
that remark. You know, the other day, we agreed 
that Soul is God; and that the body is man; and 
that Soul is Mind or consciousness. Now, it was 



176 THE UNFOLDMENT 

not the body of the practitioner which was capa- 
ble of changing the mentality of the patient; but 
it was his mentality or Soul which did the work, 
through right thought. From this you can see 
that while it was the practitioner who did the 
healing, the practitioner, when correctly viewed, 
is a Soul-being or God-being, or a being of God; 
and therefore, in reality, it was God that did the 
healing. You will remember that Mrs. Eddy 
said: 'I healed/ and still she often makes the state- 
ment that 'God is the only healer'. This leaves 
us but one solution, namely, that the I of me is 
the God that heals. In other words, it is the 
conscious part, or Soul part, of the practitioner 
that heals his patient; but the Soul of the prac- 
titioner is the real self, and is God; therefore, it 
is right to say that God, Mind, is the only healer." 

"You cannot know how thankful I am to you, 
Mr. Williams, for these explanations, for it would 
have taken years for me to sift them out so 
clearly." 

"Once you have gained the real foundation of 



CLASS TEACHING 177 

Life, all the other questions are easily reasoned 
out. /You will remember in the future, that when 
a patient comes to you with an ailment, that the 
bodily effect is but the externalized picture of 
some wrong mental sense held in his mentality; 
and that the healing work is not in striving to 
correct the bodily defect, but in striving to have 
the patient let go of the wrong sense he is hold- 
ing in mind, which is the cause of the ill picture 
shown on his body. When you have accomplished 
a change of sense in the patient from illness to 
health, thereafter a new and better picture will be 
exhibited on his body." 

"I see it very clearly now," said Mrs. Viloxon. 
"But I am so afraid that I will quickly fall back 
into the old habits of thought. What can I do 
to prevent this?" 

"Through observation of the mental struggles 
of my students who formerly spent much time on 
'Science and Health,' I have found that those 
who, for a time, stop all reading of the present 
literature, and place their entire time on the study 



178 THE UNFOLDMENT 

of the 'Plain Talk' series, 'The Unknown God/ 
and 'The Sickle,' unfold to the new idea quickly; 
but those who still cling to the reading of the lit- 
erature which blinded them in the first place, are 
constantly slipping back to the old mental posi- 
tions, and consequently have a harder time to 
succeed," replied Mr. Williams. 

"I am a little surprised to hear anything of 
this kind from you," said Mrs. Viloxon. "It 
smacks of authorized literature advice, which 
kept me from investigating for myself for so long 
a time." 

Mr. Williams answered: "It is easy to be mis- 
understood. I did not forbid you to read any- 
thing. I did not threaten to excommunicate you 
as disloyal if you read something else. I merely 
gave you the advice that actual experience and 
observation has shown me to be best, in answer 
to your question. I said, stop reading the present 
literature for a time, not forever. Stop the other 
until you have gained the new viewpoint and the 
new foundation. Then, you can read anything 



CLASS TEACHING 179 

on the face of the earth, and it will not again 
cause you to err." 

"I see the difference. I might have known that 
you had a good reason for so advising me, and I 
shall follow the advice given. I would like to 
ask one more question, Mr. Williams. I have 
often wondered just what Mrs. Eddy meant by 
'The Science of Being,' and also if that statement 
means the same as the statement, 'the science of 
physical harmony,' found on page 7 of 'Unity of 
Good'?" 

u The science of Being, is the science of Life — 
the facts concerning Life or God. The science 
of physical harmony is the scientific application of 
the facts of Life, as far as we know them, to the 
production and maintenance of so-called physical 
harmony. The science of Being deals with the 
bare facts, or Truth of Life, and the mental laws 
connected therewith. Much is yet to be unfolded 
in the science of Being; while in the science of so- 
called physical harmony (the application of right 
thought and feeling), Mrs. Eddy has given us 



180 THE UNFOLDMENT 

quite a comprehensive and complete science of 
healing which she called the science of physical 
harmony. True, it is somewhat veiled in later 
editions, but in the early writings it was plainly 
stated." 

"Then the science of Being is deeper than the 
science of physical harmony ?" said Mrs. Viloxon. 

"Infinitely deeper! It means to know God or 
all reality; while the other means, merely to know 
how to produce physical and mental harmony, 
through a right thought process. " 

"I think I understand the difference now, and 
does your class work take up the subject of the 
science of Being?" asked Mrs. Viloxon. 

"Yes, some of it. The subject is infinite, like 
God. Mrs. Viloxon," said Mr. Williams, as he 
looked at his watch, "the time allotted for today 
has passed. I will give you another talk tomor- 
row, and then you can take your 'Sickle' home and 
begin to prepare for the class." 

"Oh, dear me! Only one more talk! and I have 
so many questions that I want to ask," she replied. 



CLASS TEACHING 181 

"Take the time tonight, to jot down on paper 
the questions you feel are of the most impor- 
tance, and ask them tomorrow." 

"Yes, that will be a good plan," replied Mrs. 
Viloxon as she prepared to leave. 



CHAPTER VI 

M. D. M. A. M. K. C. 

"Well, how about the questions ?" asked Mr. 
Williams as he seated himself at his desk, on the 
day of Mrs. Viloxon's final visit. "Did you make 
a list of them?" 

"Yes, I jotted down a few that I wanted to be 
sure not to forget," was her reply. 

"We might as well begin with them, and have 
it over with," said Mr. Williams. 

Mrs. Viloxon looked at her list, and then look- 
ing up suddenly she said: "Mr. Williams, what 
do you think about M. D.?" 

Mr. Williams turned a smiling face to his vis- 
itor as he said: "I have many staunch friends 
among the MDs. so I cannot help but think 
that most of them are all right." 

"No. No. You misunderstand me. I did not 
mean the medical doctors. I meant M. D. — men- 
tal diabolism." 

182 



MD. M.A. M. R.C. 183 

"Oh! Oh, pardon me!" said Mr. Williams, but 
the smile that his visitor saw told her that he was 
jesting with her, and that he had understood her 
rightly. 

"I am really in earnest, Mr. Williams, for this 
question has caused me untold mental work. 
What do you think of M. D.?" again asked Mrs. 
Viloxon. 

"Nothing," nonchalantly, replied Mr. Williams. 

"Nothing!" ejaculated Mrs. Viloxon, with 
great surprise. 

"Just that and nothing more," was the quiet 
reply; then he added: "Why, you cannot even find 
the phrase 'mental diabolism' in your latest edi- 
tion of 'Science and Health'." 

"You cannot? Are you sure?" she asked. 

"Yes, very sure. I have looked carefully, and 
did not find it," replied Mr. Williams. 

"But we are told to protect ourselves from it 
every day." 

"Yes, so I have heard it said. But I haven't 
time to waste on nothing, so I don't do it and have 



184 THE UNFOLDMENT 

not done it for years; and I am still here, hale and 
hearty, to tell the tale." Mr. Williams glanced 
at his visitor to note the effect of his words, and 
he saw consternation and fear written on her face. 

"You don't protect yourself daily from M. 
D.?" cried Mrs. Viloxon, with genuine alarm and 
surprise. 

"No, for I cannot see any sense in doing so," 
was the quiet reply. 

"Well, I can't agree with you. While I don't 
just fear it, yet I feel safer when I daily protect 
myself from it." 

"Your actions belie your words. If you had 
no fear of it, you would not feel the need of daily 
protection from it." 

"Don't you believe in it at all?" asked Mrs. 
Viloxon. 

"No," was the decided answer. 

"But why don't you believe in it? Practically 
all the Scientists whom I know believe in it. Why, 
my teacher devoted almost two whole days of 
class to the subject." 



. MD. M.A.M. R.C. 185 

"He did? That surprises me!" said Mr. Wil- 
liams; then asked: "Was your teacher a so-called 
loyal teacher, and did he follow the directions 
given in the Manual?" 

"Oh, yes. He was very careful in following 
these directions and warned us all to be equally 
careful to live up to the Manual." 

"That is peculiar. I wonder if he ever read the 
Manual carefully?" asked Mr. Williams, with 
an assumed seriousness in his voice. 

"Oh, yes, he knew the Manual from beginning 
to end," she replied. 

"And still he spent two days of class in teach- 
ing or expounding M. D. Under article 27 in 
the Manual we find this: 'The teachers of the 
Primary class shall instruct their pupils from the 
said chapter on 'Recapitulation' only.' There is 
no mention of M. D. in this chapter, therefore 
those teachers who teach anything not found in 
that chapter, violate the Manual and are disloyal 
to Mrs. Eddy's instruction." 

Mrs. Viloxon looked long and steadily at Mr. 



186 THE UNFOLDMENT 

Williams, then said: "Where will this thing end? 
You are continually showing and proving to me 
that the whole movement is nothing but misun- 
derstanding, make-believe and mockery, and I 
am dumbfounded at my stupidity. But why don't 
you believe in M. D. ?" 

"Oh, I guess I know too much," said Mr. Wil- 
liams with a laugh. 

"Won't you give me your views ?" she pleaded. 

"Yes. Mental diabolism, personified into the 
words M. D., is a straw devil that Scientists set 
up daily with their left hand, and then spend the 
rest of the day in working to destroy it with their 
right hand," 

"What can you mean by straw devil?" asked 
Mrs. Viloxon. 

"Oh, a mere scarecrow, — a worn out suit of 
clothes stuffed with straw to resemble a hideous 
misshapen man." It was noticeable that Mr. 
Williams had hard work to control his laughter 
as he saw the look of astonishment and fear on 
his visitor's face. 



MD. M.A.M. R.C. 187 

"Oh, I wish I was that way," at length she re- 
plied, as she noted the fearless, laughing face be- 
fore her. 

"Very well. I shall try to destroy this straw 
devil for you, so that you will never see him again. 
Do you believe in fortune telling, palm reading, 
enchantments and conjugations?" asked Mr. 
Williams. 

"No, certainly not. No real Christian Scien- 
tist believes in that stuff." 

"Do you believe in necromancy?" asked the 
teacher. 

"No, not at all," was the firm reply. 

"Webster defines 'necromancy' as meaning, 'en- 
chantments, conjurgations and fortune telling'. 
Mrs. Eddy, in one of her messages to the Mother 
church, when speaking of necromancy, says : 
'necromancy, or diabolism.' This shows that 
Mrs. Eddy considered the words to be synony- 
mous. On page 334, line 6, 'Miscellaneous Writ- 
ings,' she wrote: 'Necromancy has no founda- 
tion, — in fact, no Intelligence; and the belief that 



188 THE UNFOLDMENT 

it has, deceives itself.' If necromancy has no foun- 
dation, it is nothing." 

"Oh, I know it is nothing, but we must guard 
ourselves from it," said Mrs. Viloxon. 

"What an absurd statement that is. How 
could you guard yourself from nothing ?" asked 
Mr. Williams. 

Mrs. Viloxon slowly settled back in her chair 
but made no reply. It was plain to be seen that 
she was absolutely confused. After a few mo- 
ments, Mr. Williams said: "That is why, when 
you asked me what I thought of mental diabol- 
ism, I answered : 'nothing' ; for that is all it is, 
and I have no time to waste in daily fighting that 
which I know to be nothing." 

"But I don't understand, yet. I cannot see why 
we were all instructed to guard ourselves daily 
from mental diabolism if there is no reason for 
it." 

"It is another case of the blind leading the 
blind," said Mr. Williams. "Mrs. Eddy did not 



MD. M.A. M. R.C. 189 

tell you to do this. Her instructions regarding 
daily mental work are just the reverse." 

u Please explain." 

u Mrs. Eddy instructed her followers to daily 
keep their minds so full of Truth and Love that 
nothing else could enter in, and not to daily fight 
a thing which does not exist. The fact of the 
matter is, that if you follow her advice and keep 
your mind filled with Truth and Love (true and 
loving thought), there won't be any room in your 
mentality for the erroneous belief in M. D." 

u Mr. Williams, will I ever gain the mental 
freedom and peace of mind that I see you have?" 
asked Mrs. Viloxon. 

"Yes. But not as long as you keep manufac- 
turing devils out of nothing to fight daily, and thus 
keep you in constant fear and discord." 

"I want to be fearless. I want to be free. I 
am just beginning to realize what a bundle of fear 
I am. No wonder I am constantly in a nervous 
tremble," said Mrs. Viloxon. 

"Anyone would be who carried a half dozen 



190 THE UNFOLDMENT 

devils around with him all the time, and fought 
these imaginary devils all day long as though they 
were real. That is enough to make a nervous 
wreck of anyone." 

"If I could only be sure that you are right, 
what a weight of fear it would lift from my 
mind." 

"Why not appeal to your reason?" asked Mr. 
Williams. "You protect yourself daily by fight- 
ing these imaginary devils, and you are sick. I 
never bother about these nonsensical beliefs and 
so they never bother me, and consequently I am 
harmonious and well. Is not that proof worth 
considering?" 

"Yes, yes. But I was taught so differently. 
Does Mrs. Eddy say anything further on diabol- 
ism?" asked Mrs. Viloxon. 

"Yes. On page 334, line 19, 'Miscellaneous 
Writings/ she wrote: 'The diabolism of supposi- 
tional evil at work in the name of good, is a lie 
of the highest degree of nothingness : just reduce 
this falsity to its proper denomination, and you 



MD. M.A. M. R.C. 191 

have done with it.' In plain words, this means 
that the belief that wrong thought has the same 
power as right thought is a lie of the highest de- 
gree of nothingness, and if we will mentally re- 
duce this lie to its proper denomination, namely, 
nothing, then we need bother no more about it." 

"That seems clear, but still I cannot help but 
think we need to guard against evil," replied Mrs. 
Viloxon. 

"Is it sickness, or the belief in sickness, that 
makes you ill or produces the bodily results called 
sickness?" asked Mr. Williams. 

"I hardly know how to answer that," she re- 
plied. 

"If a friend is sick, does his sickness make you 
sick?" was the next question. 

"I scarcely know. Sometimes, I seem to be 
affected by the ills of others," replied Mrs. Vi- 
loxon. 

"Hear what Mrs. Eddy has to say on the sub- 
ject, page 83, line 14, 'Miscellaneous Writings': 
'No person can accept another's belief, except it 



192 THE UNFOLDMENT 

be with the consent of his own belief. If the er- 
ror which knocks at the door of your own thought 
originated in another's mind, you are a free moral 
agent to reject or accept this error.' From this 
it can be seen that your body cannot be affected 
by another's belief. You must first accept or 
make that belief your own, before you can have 
any effect from the belief; and then you are not 
affected by another's belief, but by the belief that 
is now your own." 

After a moment's pause, Mr. Williams con- 
tinued: "Some one was foolish enough to orig- 
inate the belief in M. D., as you call it, and you 
accepted this belief and thus you made that erring 
belief your own. Now the way to freedom is not 
to daily fight this belief of M. D. as though it 
were a reality, but to make nothing of it, and 
disbelieve it. In other words, only those who 
believe in a certain sickness get that sickness; and 
so, only those who believe in mental diabolism, 
can be affected by it; and really not by it, but by 



MD. M.A.M. R.C. 193 

their own belief in it. To not believe in it, is to 
be utterly immune from it." 

"Oh, Mr. Williams ! If I were only certain of 
this, what a wonderful amount of work it would 
save me," and her voice was full of feeling. 

"Please be sensible. Before you came into 
Christian Science, did you have to fight this im- 
aginary devil of diabolism, daily?" asked Mr. 
Williams. 

"No, I did not know there was any such thing," 
she replied. 

"Neither is there. Mrs. Eddy tells you it is 
nothing." 

"I know it is nothing," said Mrs. Viloxon. 

"No, you do not know it is nothing. You just 
repeat that like a parrot because you heard others 
call it 'nothing'. If you knew it was nothing, you 
would cease to fight it, as something. No rational 
person would long fight with that which they knew 
was nothing. If you gained the devil of mental 
diabolism since you came into Science, then you 
have at least one more devil to contend with than 



194 THE UNFOLDMENT 

you had before you came to Science. Now that 
is not Christian Science, neither is it the way to 
mental freedom. " 

"I can see the force of your logic, but I shall 
need to have time for careful thought," said Mrs. 
Viloxon. "Now I would like to ask a somewhat 
similar question that has bothered me fully as 
much as M. D. What do you think of M. A. M. ?" 

That ever reappearing smile came to Mr. 
Williams' face, as he answered: "Oh, she is all 
right." 

"She!" cried Mrs. Viloxon in surprise; then 
added: "What or who do you mean by 'she' ?" 

The smile broadened into a laugh as Mr. Wil- 
liams said: "Why, M. A. M. — My Aunt 
Mary." 

"Mr. Williams, you jest! You are making 
fun of me." 

"No, not of you, but of 'My Aunt Mary.' 
This reminds me of a funny experience that I 
had when visiting down in Virginia. We were 
touring, and visited at the home of one of my 



MD. M.A.M. R.C. 195 

friends of the spirit whom I had never met be- 
fore. Question after question was asked and an- 
swered, and dinner time arrived. We were 
pressed to stay for dinner and complied. As the 
meal progressed, the maid occasionally brought 
in a dish, and as she placed it on the table I heard 
her quietly say, 'F. H. B.' It caught my atten- 
tion and I wondered if this was a new M. A. M. 
— 'My Aunt Mary,' and decided to observe mat- 
ters closely. After a little, the maid came in with 
another dish and as she placed it on the table, 
she quietly said, 'M. I. K.' Things were getting 
interesting to me, and as the dinner proceeded 
there was an occasional 'F. H. B.' or 'M. I. K.,' 
and I noticed it was always when the maid placed 
something on the table. I said nothing during 
the meal, but after dinner was over I determined 
to find out what this mysterious 'F. H. B.' and 
'M. I. K.' meant, and asked the hostess. She 
said: 'So you noticed it, did you?' I answered: 
'Yes.' 'Well/ said she, 'I will tell you. "F. H. 
B." means, — "family hold back," and was said 



196 THE UNFOLDMENT 

about the dishes that we were short on; and "M. 
I. K." means "more in kitchen," and was the sig- 
nal that the family could have all of that dish that 
they wanted.' " 

There was a merry laugh from Mrs. Viloxon 
as she caught the import of the joke, and at 
length she said: "and so you place M. A. M. in 
the same class as F. H. B. and M. I. K." 

"Yes, there is even less to it than that." 

"I think you are mistaken about it," said Mrs. 
Viloxon, as a look of seriousness came into her 
eyes. "M. A. M. — Malicious Animal Magne- 
tism — is a power and evil to beware of." 

"I thought that Mrs. Eddy teaches that evil 
has no power," said Mr. Williams. 

"So she does," replied Mrs. Viloxon. Then 
with a toss of her head, she said: "Mrs. Eddy 
also teaches that there is no sickness but we have 
to treat it just the same." 

"That is just where you are mistaken, and 
where all the mere believers in Christian Science 
are mistaken. Correctly understood, Mrs. Eddy 



MD. M.A.M. R.C. 197 

teaches that there is no sickness, so there could 
be none to treat. There is, however, a false be- 
lief in sickness, and it is this false belief that needs 
to be destroyed. If you fight sickness as some- 
thing, you merely make something out of nothing; 
while real healing consists in reducing the sick 
belief to 'its proper denomination,' as Mrs. Eddy 
says, namely, nothing.-" 

"That is all very fine indeed," said Mrs. Vi- 
loxon, "but how about Animal Magnetism? Mrs. 
Eddy has a chapter in 'Science and Health' de- 
voted to the subject, has she not?" 

"Yes, she has devoted a mere five or six pages 
of a seven hundred page book to the subject. 
This brings to mind a story of some boys who had 
wandered into a forest and seeing something in- 
distinctly, it frightened them. While running 
away from it in great fear and excitement they 
met an old trapper and hunter who asked them 
the cause of their fear. Each boy began to de- 
scribe the creature differently according to what 
they imagined they had seen. After they were 



198 THE UNFOLDMENT 

all through, the hunter merely said: 'they ain't no 
sech animile.' The substance of the six pages 
that Mrs. Eddy devotes to the subject of Animal 
Magnetism is that she found, in the words of the 
hunter, that, 'they ain't no sech animile' in real- 
ity," said Mr. Williams with a laugh. 

Mrs. Viloxon w T anted to laugh also, but her fear 
bound her; so she merely smiled, and said: u But 
we are supposed to protect ourselves from this 
evil, daily." 

"Another straw devil to fight! My, I wonder 
how you Scientists have any time left to treat 
yourselves or your patients with good thought, 
for you are engaged all day long in fighting 
imaginary devils. " 

"But it is not imaginary," said Mrs. Viloxon. 

"Let us look into the subject. Here, on page 
102, latest edition of 'Science and Health' at the 
top of the page, Mrs. Eddy wrote : 'Animal mag- 
netism has no scientific foundation.' If it has no 
scientific foundation then it has no foundation in 
fact, and therefore at best it is but an imagination 



MD. M.A. M. R. C. 199 

or belief, and we have seen that he who disbelieves 
a certain belief, cannot be affected by that belief. 
Therefore, instead of fighting this mental scare- 
crow daily, our remedy lies in disbelieving it to 
be something. The marginal heading attached 
to this same paragraph tells the whole story, for 
it says, ''Mere negation'; in other words, animal 
magnetism is a mere negation, or nothing at all." 

"Is there nothing at all that you fear?" asked 
Mrs. Viloxon. 

"Not for more than a minute. By that time, 
my reason is at work, and tells me that in a uni- 
verse, the cause of which is good, there could be 
nothing in reality to be afraid of, for in such a 
universe there would be nothing real but the 
good." 

"Yes, yes, that is only too true. Why can I not 
keep this before my thought constantly." 

"Because you are so busy looking up flocks of 
new devils to frighten yourself with that you 
have no time to think that the good alone is all, 
as taught by Jesus, Paul and Mrs. Eddy." 



200 THE UNFOLDMENT 

"I believe you have stated the matter exactly 
right. It seems that we older Scientists have been 
putting in all our time searching out evils (devils) 
when the fact is, there are none; and this time, if 
spent in searching for Good, would have gained 
us our freedom through the understanding which 
would naturally have unfolded to us," said Mrs. 
Viloxon. 

"It is certainly a waste of time to search for 
evil, for if you even imagine that you have found 
it, the very imagining of it brings evil to your 
mind, and then you experience the evil you imag- 
ined as bodily discomfort. I shall keep on look- 
ing for the good, the only God, or reality." 

u You certainly are right, and I shall turn over 
a new leaf and try to lose all interest in evil and 
put my whole attention to discovering the good. 
Now I have one more demon (or call it what you 
may) on my list, and this demon seems more 
tangible or real than the others, and perhaps 
needs the attention that is given it." 

"No devil needs attention. It is lack of atten- 



MD. M.A.M. R.C. 201 

tion that destroys the devil. We are not forbid- 
den by Holy Writ to eat of the tree of good and 
evil, for there is no such tree; but we are warned 
not to eat of the tree of the KNOWLEDGE of 
good and evil. We are not warned against evil, 
for there is none in reality; but we are forbidden 
to sense evil. In other words, we are bidden to 
keep the sense of evil out of our consciousness 
entirely, for then it can find no means of mani- 
festation." 

"I never realized that before," said Mrs. Vi- 
loxon; and then began to reason slowly: "It is 
not evil that does the damage, it is the sense of 
evil that we mentally entertain which causes the 
evil manifestations." 

"I see we are progressing. If what you said 
is true, then it is equally true that it is not sick- 
ness that makes us sick, but it is the sense of sick- 
ness that we mentally entertain that eventually 
manifests as sickness." 

u Yes, I see that clearly now. But to return to 
my question,— do you believe in R. C?" 



202 THE UNFOLDMENT 

"If the letters stand for right consciousness, 
yes. If you mean that they merely stand for 
necromancy, enchantment, mental mal-practice, 
diabolism or some such mysterious nonsense, no!" 

"Do you believe in Roman Catholicism?" now 
asked Mrs. Viloxon, plainly. 

"No, for if I did I would attend that church 
and follow their preachings," replied Mr. Wil- 
liams. 

"But you do not seem to catch my meaning," 
she insisted. 

"Oh yes, I know what you mean. But I also 
know from years of healing practice, that it takes 
hours and days and sometimes months of con- 
centrated effort with the all-powerful right 
thought to produce any effect in a patient; and if 
this be the case, I am sure that if any one tried 
to produce an evil effect in me with the powerless 
evil thought, he would have only his trouble for 
his pains. It's the same story as all the rest, 
namely, a belief that evil has power. Away with 
it! Keep your mind constantly filled with good 



MD. M.A.M. R.C. 203 

thoughts, and forget there ever was a devil, and 
he will return to his native nothingness from 
sheer neglect. I have always told my students that 
if they are in tune with good they are out of tune 
with evil, and that is enough." 

u Mr. Williams, I believe I understand you 
fully on this question. You mean to have me 
understand, that the belief in animal magnetism 
or any form of mal-practice, lays us open to that 
mal-practice; while a disbelief in it closes the door 
of our consciousness to it, and then we are utterly 
immune from it." 

"Exactly right! As with sickness, so it is with 
all other beliefs, no matter whether it be under 
the name of M. D., M. A. M. or R. C. V /If you 
don't believe in a certain sickness, you will never 
experience it; the same holds true with all this 
other nonsense." 

"Thank heavens, I am done with that lot of 
devils ! They surely have kept me busy these last 
few years," and Mrs. Viloxon gave a sigh of 
relief. 



204 THE UNFOLDMENT 

"They could do nothing of themselves. They 
are scarecrows, merely, like the child's plaything, 
— the monkey on a stick. It does nothing unless 
you pull the string. So forget the monkey, and 
thus stop pulling the string, and it will cease to 
frighten you." 

"Mr. Williams, you can rest assured I shall 
let that string severely alone in the future," laugh- 
ingly, replied Mrs. Viloxon. 

"See that you do so, and become self confident 
and fearless." 

"Mr. Williams, I don't know how to thank 
you for your kindness in enlightening me, and 
for helping me to destroy these pet evils, but you 
know I thank you, don't you?" and tears of grati- 
tude filled her eyes. 

"Yes, I understand fully. I have not spent 
years in the study of the symbolical face of the 
Soul (the countenance) to no purpose. I knew, 
when first I saw your face, that it would be worth 
my time to set you right; and I know that you 
will do your part in acquainting others with the 



MD. M.A.M. R.C. 205 

glorious gospel, that there is really only the good 
side to Life, and that all else is but a seeming." 

"I shall certainly preach this true gospel at 
every opportunity," said Mrs. Viloxon. 

"I have started the work of emptying out the 
errors in your mentality and thus have led you 
up to 'The Sickle,' and the first chapter in the book 
is entitled 'Emptying Out.' Reaching over to his 
desk, Mr. Williams picked up a new book, and 
said: "Take the book and thoroughly study it 
and thus continue the good work I have begun." 

As Mrs. Viloxon took the book, she said: "I 
shall certainly do so, and shall continue to empty 
my mental storehouse of all the rubbish that I 
have allowed to accumulate there in the past 
twenty-five years of my Christian Science experi- 
ence. When I am done with my mental house- 
cleaning I am coming to you, and again ask you 
to give me the teacher's course in divine Meta- 
physics." 

Mr. Williams extended his hand to his depart- 
ing visitor, and as he did so, said: "When that 



206 THE UNFOLDMENT 

time comes I am sure you will find me ready to do 
so, for the world needs the co-operation of every 
honest heart and true thinker, and such I believe 
you to be; to lift from off the shoulders of human- 
kind the grievous burdens placed there by reli- 
gious superstition and false teaching." 



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